Friendship is a Miracle: Recharged!
by Dragon Emperor Geon
Summary: This is a retelling of the original Fanfic "My Little Pony Friendship is a Miracle". Many changes have been made with the addition of a new character. The first part of the epic saga begins with our heroes Graham, Aramis, and Gypsy.
1. Three is a Lucky Number

**All discussions regarding the original chapters will be held at the end of every chapter so as to not distract you ponies from comparing and contrasting between the original and the retelling.**

**Also, please read the retelling of this chapter before you read the discussion. If you want to read the old one first and compare it to the retelling, feel free to do so, but at least read both before reading the discussion.**

It was a quiet summer morning throughout the small town of Ponyville, one of thousands of towns or provinces that belonged to the world of Equestria. This world was much more different than what many could understand, as the majority of the world was inhabited by ponies. Their ruler was known as the majestic Alicorn, Princess Celestia, who had been ruler in conjunction with her sister, Princess Luna, for thousands upon thousands of years. Today, she had been thinking about how to liven up the quiet and somewhat boring town of Ponyville. She stood at the balcony that overlooked a grand portion of the world she ruled over with a soft smile on her face, observing the beautiful vista that splayed across Canterlot and beyond.

She stared off into the vista for a while until she realized a real good way to freshen things up for the Mane 6 and Spike. She tapped her chin with her hoof, a notion that fit enchantingly with her beautiful long blue, green, purple and pink colored mane and tail, along with her soft features and enticing magenta eyes that could allure the shyest of people to approach her. An idea came to her mind and she realized exactly what could liven things up; another human or two, new companions who could learn from the Mane 6 as much as the mares could from them about the meaning of friendship. Celestia summoned forth a scroll from her vast magical resources, and used her telekinesis to pry it open and keep it levitating in place. She peered inside and saw two young men who must have been close to the age of twenty with an air of sadness and grief that resonated clearly within her and reminded her of the sadness she felt at losing her sister to something so sinful, that she thanked her lucky stars her sister was still alive. The princess couldn't tell for sure who was the more emotionally and mentally anguished, but was curious to learn more about them.

One of the young men sat in a rather ragged recliner, wearing a pair of faded blue jeans with many varying rips of different sizes from the knees down to his dark brown combat boots. He wore a classic white t-shirt on, along with a currently unfastened button-up that almost reached his knees. The edges were decorated with a red Chinese dragon that wrapped around the bottom of it and pulled up onto the back of his button-up. His hands were partially covered by black fingerless gloves, with stainless steel plating over the knuckles in case he got into a fight. He had a strong, sharp facial outline that made his deep forest-green eyes stand out while also being well-framed by his short brown hair that created some bangs over his forehead and sides, but shorter towards the back. A small patch of light orange hair adorned his chin, which gave him the overall appearance of a tough cowboy, but even he knew deep down that he couldn't ignore the loneliness he felt many a time.

The next person she saw was a boy of a tanner complexion who laid flat on the raggedy carpeting in a comfortable, yet form-fitting red zipper hoodie. His short black hair was trimmed and lined up in such a way that it sharpened his features ever moreso. His eyes were a steel-honey brown mix that was accentuated by his sharp cheekbones. He was lean and stood at a tall 5'11, although he was still slightly shorter than his companion who measured up to a stunning 6'2. He wore long black jeans with short chains and a pair of black boots. If there was one feature that really made him stand out in a way he didn't like to stand out, it would be his eyes. It wasn't just the odd color combination that got many people staring, but it was just how lifeless his eyes appeared. No matter how hard he tried to smile, that smile could never truly reach his empty eyes, it was as if his eyes killed any emotion that dared to show itself. A black Labrador dog lay next to him, slowly wagging its tail while he scratched the dog behind the ears. A very small, subtle smile splayed across his face.

"Hmm" A smile danced across her face and she chuckled to herself lightly. "This one may just definitely work… a boy, his close friend, and their dog." She smiled and then closed her eyes as she began to chant in a language not known by many. The few who DID happen to understand the language she was speaking would've known that she was practicing a magical art.

-  
>"I'm glad we have you here, Gypsy. Who knows where Graham and I would be without you" he whispered to the dog, her ears perking up at the genuine praise. The dog had completely black fur, and was about 7 years old but still played like a young puppy. She carried a chew toy in the shape of a candy cane. The only thing she wore was a red collar, with some identification on a little slate of metal. Both of them lived in a small apartment, but the place was a dump. The sad part was that neither of them could hold up a job; Graham because he wasn't too keen on the people he was working for, and the still-unnamed young man because people were routinely disturbed and in the end didn't like interacting with him.<p>

"Hey Aramis, looks like none of us are eating anything today. We're completely out… I'm sorry" he looked down guiltily from the last cabinet he had checked. Gypsy approached her master and whined a little, but nuzzled his leg to reassure him she was fine. All it did was make him frown further at how he had let down the only two people he would consider family.

"Don't feel bad, bro. It certainly isn't anyone's fault and you know it." Aramis replied in support. He smiled and then sighed a bit as he got up from his chair and looked at the city of New York.

"What a city...to think we came here to find a good job, all for naught..." Gypsy whined a bit with her chew toy, knowing that playing with her would cheer him right up. He looked down at her and chuckled. Aramis slowly got up and walked over to him. Graham gave him a look and he knew that it was time to play a little.

"OK girl, OK. Here, fetch!"

He chucked it across the room as the dog grabbed it with her teeth gently and skipped over to him. He took the toy and raised it over him. "Want it? Hm? Go get it." He said as he whipped it across the room to Aramis, who caught it one-handed. She sat on her hind legs and waited for him to hand it over.

"If you want it, ya' gotta earn it girl. Roll over!" he commanded with a rare playful laugh. She rolled over back and forth as if she was playing on grass. When she finished, she barked and started begging for the toy.

"Here you go girl. You earned it. Haha" he laughed quietly. She trotted off with her chew toy to the kitchen where the two headed over. The two close friends sat at the table and relaxed while Aramis quietly drank from his cup of water he had left on the table. A bright light began to fill the room, but they dismissed it as the sunset beginning to shine on their window. It kept getting more and more intense. The two men and Gypsy stood up in alert and looked at the light that absorbed the three of them.

"Huh?" was all Graham said before he felt a pulling sensation.

"The hell is going on?" Aramis spoke out loud, as he too was pulled in, Gypsy barking after them shortly before also being pulled in.

What was this white light?

Where was he being dragged to?

They could only imagine...

**Tennis with Thoughts: Note 1**

**Doomlord1234: When I first started this series, I wanted to have a sort of humble beginning for the main character. It was originally supposed to be a trip through a dream, but I found it lacking in detail as I went along. When I restarted the chapter, it ended up like this. Nothing much to see here. The Updated chapter however, will be boosted with more emotion and life, in my view. I hope you share the same feeling like I do upon this mastered retelling of the story. The old chapter was renamed to "Three is a Lucky Number". The reason why the dream story was so lacking was because nopony likes a story where nothing truly happened. So I went with the reality toss. And it worked. A lot of you guys really liked this pitch, so when nothings broke why fix it, you know?**

**Henry Anthony Courtler: Although I'm relatively new to the concept of FiM stories (I've only been reading them since last Saturday, December 3rd, 2011), I knew some information here and there regarding the back story, the characters, and the bit of plot that carries on; I was never too keen on digging in on it. The show was still very new and fresh off the oven, and I have a tendency to wait for things to cool down and see how good they are. Once I started reading fics, I really couldn't stop if I tried. One day, I ran across Friendship is a Miracle by Doomlord while browsing through the M category (as I'm not a fan of kiddy works and I prefer downright moody stories), and I was instantly hooked on it. Sadly, I walked in towards the last two chapters remaining, but I enjoyed reading it. His author notes left me giggling and almost waking up the house at night. The story felt more down to earth and sincere than some of the other human in Equestria stories that seems to make the human the most beloved and amazing creature they've seen since sliced bread. I understand that people like those kinds of stories, but I'm more into plot and development than the whole "perfect day" kind of story.**

**Before I even had the chance to start re-writing this chapter, Doomlord had begged me to make a character to join his sporadic adventure and thus Aramis was born. He is a character that will make a big entry on the second story in the series as a main character. I figured main character needs a true close friend with them; otherwise it would be very hollow and rather empty. You'll see many adventures with Aramis in tow, but one specific thing should be kept in mind: He will be getting his own adventure and very plot, and character orientated story that will keep only a small portion of the core cast of our series, which will hopefully be growing soon.**

**This isn't the average rehash that most authors usually do eventually to attract more people. No, this is a total remastering of the original source and although my character may make you think otherwise, believe us when we say, It is only for the best, since the original source needed some good iron working and major tweaks. Both of us agreed on this, and here is the fruition of our work. We hope you enjoy it!**


	2. Welcome to Equestria!

The bright light that had picked them up from their apartment had only lasted a few short seconds before they were deposited midair in a completely different location. None of the three had any time to wonder where they were, as they suddenly started to fall, the ground coming up faster and faster. The two young men could only scream in fright, while Gypsy barked in fear as they hit the ground in a tangled mess of limbs; instantly knocking Graham and Aramis out, leaving Gypsy to whimper in worry at her friends.

A couple of hours had passed since the two of them had been knocked unconscious from the impact and they began to stir. Aramis had been the first of the two to get up, although his attempt nearly failed from the shakiness his body still felt; his muscles knotted and stressed from the awkward position he had stayed in for so long. When he managed to stand up he leaned his hands against his knees and breathed deeply, not paying attention to the strange environment he was in. His lower ribs ached slightly every time he breathed, but it was his upper ribs that hurt intently, a white hot flash of intense pain that almost made him collapse. His little stumble was what finally made him notice the new environment he was in.

A thick forest stood behind him, the range of it leaving him speechless as its length went on further than the eye could see. The green fields were equally as long and seemed to be bordered in by the forest. He looked forward and noticed that the dirt path the three had landed on went on into the outskirts of a town. Aramis looked down at Graham and noticed the bruising he had taken. It seemed to be worse than his own.  
>"Gypsy, come here girl" he called out to the dog, who obediently came to him and nuzzled his leg.<p>

"It's nice to see you too, Gypsy. We need to get Graham to someone who can give him some medical atten-" he stopped short as he began to cough violently into his hand. Gypsy whimpered again in worry at his current health. He cleared his throat and spat what he thought was flem, until he noticed how thick and bloody it was.

"Don't worry about me girl. Graham is our number one priority, since we don't know his current condition." He leaned down, and with some minor struggling, Aramis had managed to place Graham over his shoulder. He breathed deeply as he tried to ignore the searing pain in his sides. With that, Aramis slowly walked along the dirt path into the town he had seen in the distance; his eyes slowly closing and opening as he fought off the exhaustion he felt deep inside him. The walk felt like it took hours to him, as his sense of judgment and time were off from the increasing pain he felt from the strain of carrying the weight of his best friend. He saw what looked like a pony, and stared at it with a confused glance, but still kept trudging ahead. Graham mumbled on his shoulder, almost as if he was finally beginning to stir from all the motion he felt from the walk, but he still didn't wake up.  
>Fluttershy was going through the forest, gathering berries and fruits for the animals she took care of when she saw a weird figure or two off in the distance. She stood there until the figures came into focus and what she saw certainly surprised her.<p>

"…that's very odd." She mumbled to herself. That's when she took notice of their condition and her eyes widened in shock at just how one of them managed to carry the other so far.

Aramis felt very uncomfortable being looked at in shock by a pony, which not only had an odd yellow body and a long, wavy mane with an equally wavy tail, but on top of that he could have sworn he heard it mumbling to itself.

"Oh my…You two need medical attention" Fluttershy said as she walked closer to them, taking in detail the extent of their injuries.

"Did you just talk to me?" Aramis asked back, staring at the pony in question with total surprise.

"Yes…I did…I'm sorry if I frightened you. I just want to help you and your friend out" She said while looking at the ground, feeling guilty that she had somehow added more stress to the human.

"You didn't frighten me at all miss, I was just surprised. Is there any chance you can help us out here? My friend here is completely out of it and I-" He stopped to cough before resuming "am in no better condition, especially after carrying him for who knows how long." He said with another wheezing cough, the strain beginning to really kick in.

"Place your friend on my back and try to follow me, please; my home is just up the bend from here." She replied as she gently straightened her body out, allowing Graham to lie steadily across her back. Fluttershy offered her neck as a cane of sorts for Aramis to hold on to, as support for his failing strength. The four had walked for only a couple more minutes until they arrived at a big farm-like area. Her home was built into the tree, but Aramis hadn't really paid much attention as the burning pain from his ribs distracted him.

Fluttershy laid Graham down on a hospital-like bed before turning to Aramis. "I'll begin treating to his wounds once I get yours checked out and healed, if you don't mind." She told him quietly.

"Sure, that's fine with me. Also, my name is Aramis and my friend over there is Graham, and this lovable dog here," Gypsy barked at the appraise "is our wonderful dog Gypsy."

"Oh, forgive me for being so rude to you; I should have introduced myself a while ago. My name is Fluttershy and I live in the in outskirts of Ponyville, one of the many cities that belong to Equestria.

"It's a wonderful pleasure to meet you Miss Fluttershy." he said courteously, immediately causing her to blush.

"There's no need for such formalities." the blush on her face slowly receding "I'm very curious as to what you two are exactly, if you don't mind me wanting to know." The light yellow mane asked, her eyes slowly looking at the ground, as if nervous that he would get angry with her because of her question.

"I don't mind it at all. There is absolutely nothing to be ashamed of for being curious. To answer your question though, Graham and I are what are called "humans". We are also mammals like you and your race, but with obvious differences." signaling to his outwardly appearance.

"Oh my, Aramis, you're very injured. Please sit down on the bed next to your friend." He complied with no qualms, wanting only to help calm her nerves.

She took out a medical kit and began to pull several items out, ranging from rubbing alcohol to shots and all sorts of obscure things he never thought someone could fit in such a modest medic kit.

"Could you please take off any upper body clothing you have, it's just so I can check over any potential wounds." A light blush tinted his cheeks, but he followed her directions anyway. When he took off his hoody and his shirt, it was Flutteshy's turn to blush. His physique was well taken care of and was comparable to a Pegasus' hooves down.

"By Celestia's grace, what happened to you?" he almost flinched at the intensity of her voice.

"Well you see Fluttershy, when you fall almost fifty feet from the sky, through a tree, and  
>bounce off the ground, you're not exactly going to be able to just brush it off and keep on rockin' " he stated with a bit of sarcasm.<p>

"Lie down on your back please. I'm going to start by mending your ribs to your ribcage, so it may hurt for some time." he carefully laid back and stared at the ceiling before groaning loudly at the feeling of his ribs being re-attached, bent back, and snapped into place.

"Just hold still for a little longer and I swear it'll be over" she pleaded with him, trying to keep him still. The next step for her was to start clearing the bruising and blood that pooled beneath his skin. Once she finished with that, she wrapped gauze around his chest and rib cage with some help from Aramis. The exhaustion he felt deep in his bones had taken advantage of the comfy bed, and he had promptly blacked out and slept quietly. 

Fluttershy walked over to Graham and ripped his shirt off, since she couldn't pull it off by herself. She was very, very concerned with all the intricate wounds she saw on his person. He had many signs of internal bleeding; several fractured bones, a possible broken leg, and a serious concussion. If he didn't get professional help, his injuries could leave him crippled for the rest of his life. She quickly flew out her door and began to rocket towards Ponyville, Gypsy whimpering in concern for her master's health and well-being. 

The young pony flew over to a treehouse towards the center of the town. Using her hoof, she knocked repeatedly, until the door opened revealing a small dragon with purple scales. "Pardon me for the loud noise Spike, but do you know where Twilight Sparkle is, by any chance? It's really...important..." her panic had left her nearly breathless, and she leaned against the door frame to keep herself from shaking. 

"She's in her study room, I'll get her!", was all he said before promptly running off to get her, leaving the yellow pony looking after herself outside. The pegasus then floated inside, growing further and further impatient in her wait for her close friend, Twilight Sparkle. Moments later, a purple unicorn trotted down the stairs. Her long midnight blue hair had a purple and pink stripe in both her mane and tail which bounced lightly from side to side, her deep purple pools for eyes looking at her friend in concern, who looked more riled up than she had ever seen. 

"What's going on, Fluttershy? I wasn't expecting company."

"There's no time for explanations Twilight! There's a creature in dire need of complicated healing and between the two of us, you're the only one who's truly capable of healing him." she exasperated to her friend. 

Twilight stood there, contemplating the situation before nodding sternly to herself. "Alright Fluttershy, take me to where this creature is and I'll do my best to heal him." And with that, Twilight trotted as fast as she could to keep up with the worried and desperate Fluttershy. Within minutes, the two had arrived at Fluttershy's small little animal farm and entered the house. The creatures Fluttershy had mentioned were very familiar to Twilight. 

"Fluttershy, I'm going to be taking a real big wild guess, regarding what species they are. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but are these two creatures humans?" she questioned with a confused look. Fluttershy nodded and went over to Graham to make sure he was breathing and whatnot. 

"How did two human-" a bark interrupted her, and she looked down to see a black dog with a red collar around her neck and looked back over to the two unconscious humans and understood their relationship. "Humans and their dog end up in Equestria?" she pondered how something as absurd as that could happen. 

"Save the research for later, Twilight, he needs your help." Fluttershy begged.

Twilight walked over to his battered and bruised body and gasped at all the open wounds  
>on his chest, abdomen, and arms. Using her horn, she pulled off his pants and whatever other garment he wore beneath those and blushed brightly for a moment before shaking it off. He was in a bad condition, and for his sake she couldn't get distracted by looking at human anatomy. She pressed a hoof lightly on his right leg and saw him twitch, his face screwing up slightly.<br>Carefully, she prodded and felt his leg from the hip down to his ankle, checking for cracks, breaks, and fractures. She gasped loudly in shock at her unbelievable discovery. "His leg is fractured and cracked in so many areas, it's a miracle he didn't break his entire leg! Fluttershy, grab some of that ointment for treating bruising and dislocations I made you a while ago." Her friend quickly went through the bag and found a clear bottle with green liquid in it that almost seemed to glow. 

Twilight used her horn to carefully levitate and spread the ointment on her front hooves and gently began to knead it into his skin. She kept at it while she concentrated the healing powers in her horn and began to heal all the fractures and cracks in his leg; repairing some broken ligaments and other miniscule problems that seemed to have been there far before his current predicament. She moved closer to take a more in-depth observation of the trauma his body had suffered. He had many cuts on his torso, most of them were light scuff marks that barely drew forth any blood, but a closer inspection revealed that those marks were deeper than they seemed. There were a few deep cuts, one across his chest, where she presumed his heart to be. Another that went diagonally down his back, which she only noticed because the wound warped over his shoulder blade before curving diagonally. The poor purple unicorn shuddered at the horror of the wounds he had taken and how he had mercifully been unconscious for it. If he had been awake to feel all the pain he's feeling subconsciously... no, she couldn't allow her fear of blood and mutilation get in the way. He needed her and she had vowed to help him and she would. 

Lathering a large portion of the ointment on the deep gash on his back, she waved Fluttershy down and had her help with rubbing all of it into his skin, as much as they could to get his skin to absorb it all and prevent any potential scarring of the flesh. She wanted nothing more than to see him unscathed and not be left with some reminder of the incident. Twilight Sparkle focused intently with her horn and began to close the wound tightly, trying her hardest to erase it as she moved up his back. Several minutes later she had made it to the junction between his neck and shoulder blade and finished closing the wound.  
>"Fluttershy, I need you to take care of the other cuts while I close up the one on his chest. Can you handle that?" Sweat began to pour down her forehead from the excessive use of her magic without rest.<br>She looked at her friend in concern. Fluttershy didn't like how hard Twilight had been overexerting herself. Even her face was beginning to pale slightly from the increasing draw on her magic. "Sure, Twilight. You do seem awfully tired. Don't you think you should re-" she attempted to reason with her, only to be cut off by Twilight. 

"NO! I can't rest yet, Fluttershy. Until he's healed, I'm not gonna give up. Things might be getting intense but he will get out of this in one piece" the determination burned not just in her purple eyes, but deep down inside of her. She had been working on him for nearly two hours, and she just wasn't willing to give up on him; even though she hadn't even said a word to him. Something in her had awakened when she laid eyes on him and she just couldn't stop from looking at his sleeping face. It was a face that seemed tired, sad, lonely, but hopeful at the same time. It was an unexplainable feeling she felt, one that not even words could give justice too. 

Her power seemed to increase exponentially and the wound began to close even faster than the other gash she tried to close. In no time, she had managed to reach the part of the wound that was over his heart when he began to cough profusely. He kept writhing on the bed, his coughing becoming more and more mangled. Blood came out as he hacked and wheezed loudly. The hacking was so loud that even Aramis had woken up because of the noises. He propped himself up on one elbow and looked on with a look of shock on his face. 

"What's going on Twilight!" Fluttershy yelled in frantic panic.

"I -I don't kn-o-ow" stuttered Twilight, her hooves shacking as fear began to wrap around her.

"His heart is failing... the wound to his chest was more serious than I thought it was...He's going to die because of me..." Tears began to roll down her cheeks slowly. 

"No he won't, Twilight Sparkle. I have faith in you; I know you can save him!" Aramis encouraged loudly, Gypsy barking in agreement with him. 

She kept crying and shaking, until she looked at his pained face. Her face hardened and she knew what she had to do. She poured every last ounce of her will into closing the wound to prevent any more damage to his heart. She started to carefully pour her magic in a small steady stream to try and repair the serious cuts his heart had taken. It almost seemed to work, his coughing had slowed to a small wheeze. His breathing began to slow, his pained expression fading. She allowed herself a small smile of accomplishment and wiped some of the sweat off of her forehead with the back of her foreleg when he began to violently convulse. Fluttershy tried her best to soothe him, but after almost being hit by his flailing limbs, she had backed away in fear. 

"NO GRAHAM, PLEASE DON'T LEAVE US" cried Aramis, tears spilling from his eyes; an emotion that he had vowed to never feel rooted deep in his eyes. Fear. Fear for the threat of losing the only one he had left in his life that he could call family... that he could call his brother. His heart pounded wildly in his chest, his attempts at holding back his sobbing resulted only in him sobbing even more uncontrollably.  
>Twilight stood there with a look of shock as she realized what was happening to him. He was having a heart attack, and she needed to do something fast. She numbly stood over him and thought of a spell that could help her get his heartbeat stabilized. Her horn glowed a light blue for a moment. She held her hooves close to her horn and they seemed to spark. All those in the room stared blankly as she pushed her hooves down on his chest, causing him to flop up like a fish from the current. It didn't do anything to improve his condition and she charged a second shock and tried again. He flopped hard against the bed and his convulsing got worse. Her eyes widened as she quickly charged a third one; this one more powerful than both the first and second blast combined. Twilight pushed as best as she could and watched him writhe and twitch violently. Again she blasted him, but his condition refused to improve.<br>She charged her hooves again and was about to repeat it when he stopped writhing and lay there quietly, not even the whisper of a breath heard. Fluttershy had been quietly crying the whole time, unable to move from where she stood. Aramis' face twisted to an expression filled with so much anger, grief, and hate that it made Gypsy whimper at the pain he felt at losing someone else he had held so close to his weakened heart that had just shattered. Fluttershy couldn't bear to see him so broken, so she excused herself from the room and went to get their friends; anyone who could save the man who layed within death's grasp. 

Twilight felt defeated, worthless, and empty as she saw his life end in front of her. The grief that gripped at her heart was too much and she began crying again, her face rubbing into his chest. She was unwilling to allow him to die. He had so much to live for, so much to strive for, so much time to try and build his own happiness and all of it had been cruelly taken away from him. A tear landed on his face as she cried there, her heart pouring all the sorrow she felt, all her regrets and failures bubbling to the surface, but it wasn't the same as when she held it in. She cried for the man who had been swept away from those who loved him deeply. What she hadn't noticed was that he quietly had begun to move. His heart started to beat slowly. His breathing slowly started to pick up. His chest heaved slowly with each breath. His body moved slowly, like any person in their sleep. He felt a weight on top of him and opened his eyes. 

The rest of the crew had arrived with Fluttershy as soon as she had explained the situation. All of them wore solemn looks; a few of them understanding the loss that Aramis had experienced. Out of the five, only Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had approached the broken boy who sobbed on his side; a blank,

faraway look on his face.  
>"Aramis is it? My name is Rainbow Dash, the best flier in all of-oomph" she grunted as Fluttershy hit her in the side for ego boosting in the middle of a situation even she knew not to be comedic about. <p>

"I'm sorry for trying to be funny" she said as she rubbed her side. "But like I said, my name is Rainbow Dash, and I know exactly how you fe-" 

"No. You. Don't" was all Aramis said in between sobs. Dash was a very competitive pony, but she never allowed anyone to try to tell her she didn't know about pain.

"I don't?" she began with a dangerous edge.

"Rainbow Da-"

"No, Fluttershy. Don't interrupt me. He's going to know what pain feels like." her frown deepened, as her eyes had a hard edge.

"I don't know what your problem is, but I'll tell you here right now, that I do know pain. I know it far better than my friends could ever understand it. What I went through is something nopony should ever have to experience." she slightly shook at the end. Aramis' crying had slowed enough for him to clearly pay attention to her. 

"My hometown is a faraway place called Cloudsdale, where a high number of Pegasi live. I was the daughter of one of the most important families there. They were scientists and they expected me to share the same career as them. Once they found out my interests in flying, they supported me through all the highs and lows. As I got better, I became more and more renowned until other young fillies became jealous of my personal success and achievements. It never bothered me until much later when they began to spread rumors of me being a filly-chaser. No one believed the rumors, but then pictures implicating me of being interested in other mares popped up. It shortly got out of a control when a classmate had cornered me in the school basement and started kissing me. I didn't want it and tried to shove her off, but I couldn't. Once that picture got out...no one could look at me without feeling ashamed. My parents had taken it the worst as they were the first ponies to receive it. They...th-ey..t-" she couldn't continue and broke down. 

Aramis got up from the bed and walked over to her and hugged her, fresh tears prickling his eyes. He had always believed that he had suffered the worst after being abandoned by his parents, but knowing that someone was abandoned over a rumor that wasn't even true was nothing more than an eye opener. 

"I'm s-ss-orry for what I said" he stuttered out in choked sobs. She saw the hurt she had caused him and felt even worse.

"A-h-h Dam-m-n it" was all Dash said as she cried with him.

Twilight had stopped crying, but wouldn't get up from lying on his chest. His death affected her more than anything she had ever experienced. It was all her fault, she kept getting sidetracked and now he wa- 

Her thoughts were interrupted as she heard a loud cough. Everyone looked at her, disbelief written on their faces. They heard another cough and a slight wheeze, followed by some mumbling. Twilight removed herself from his chest and he coughed into his hand.

**Henry Anthony Courtler: Hell there everypony, as you can see, this chapter does not resemble the original in almost every way, with the exception of one scene towards the middle. The reasoning for this is because if group of people fall from a high fall distance, there bound to get hurt, and since Graham was a great friend and broke the fall for his best friend and dog **_**through**_** a three and the **_**ground**_** so he was bound to get gravely injured. The retelling of how they meet, also serves as ground to smooth out how not only Graham meets Twilight, but how Aramis gets involved in it. **

**Doomlord1234: As you can see, a lot has changed with this story and its contents. I really enjoy this change, because the original did not have as much detail, as as more reality, as I intended in the first place. It brings a few new emotions that were not even brought up in the original that it worked so perfectly. Sure, the many of you might not really enjoy this drastic change, but I assure you, the original content will only be amplified. Anyway, like I said before, we'll have many more adventures along the way, including the ever so awaited Battle between Sin and Graham, but first, this needs to get a good tweak! Until next time...**

**Keep On Rockin'!~**


	3. Lose Lips Sink Ships

Chapter 3: Lose Lips Sink Ships

After his coughing fit had ended, Graham's eyes fluttered open gently; the light blinding him, and everything being nothing more than a mess of blurs and colors. His eyes blinked several times as everything came into focus. To say he was astonished, would have been an understatement. He stared at the scene in front of him. Aramis and what he knew to definitely be Rainbow Dash, were holding each other, their tear stained faces staring at him with a blank, unreadable expression. Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rarity were crying before also staring at him with a mixture of near unreadable emotions.

Graham suddenly felt lightheaded all of a sudden; not from the pain his body felt, nor the soreness deep in his bones, but from the fact that the voices he had presumed to be human before waking up were not human at all, but in reality from ponies..._talking_ ponies.

"What the hell is going on?" Graham spoke, his voice barely above a whisper; the hysteria beginning to sink into his voice.

"Your alive..." Was all Aramis could muster, his eyes glossing over.

"Oh my Celestia! Your alive Graham!" Twilight shouted in shock, her purple orbs instantly brimming up with tears. She leaned down to hug him, only for her face to meet the bed. Graham sat back against the furthest corner of the bed, putting as much distance between himself and the talking ponies.

"Graham w-whats wrong?" Her head tilting off to the side in confusion as he began to hyperventilate in his corner.

"What do you mean whats wrong! I've woken up in a room in the middle of who knows where, surrounded by _talking_ ponies. That's what wrong!" The hysteria he felt ever so slightly increasing.

"Ya' need ta' simmer down and calm ya'self there buddy." AppleJack calmly advised. He got off the bed and approached her, a fire kindling behind his green eyes.

"Calm down...calm down? _I _ need to _calm down_ because I'm being talked to by a fucking _pony_, when up until _now_ I never heard of such a thing! Are you out of your goda-" He crumpled to the ground from a swift chop to the neck, courtesy of Aramis.

"I'm sorry..." He apologized with a deep sigh.

"What for? That was such a cool take-" Rainbow Dash stopped as she saw the glares she was getting from her friends at the misplaced appraisal. she rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment. "I mean why did you do that?"

"Graham has a tendency to...uhm...lose a little control of himself in...unfamiliar environments...Like what you guys just experienced" with an awkward chuckle, he sat on his bed. A minute or so must have passed before a rather awkward questioned was asked.

"Is anyone going to pick him up?" Aramis asked, a sigh escaping his lips. "I can't exactly lift him up myself in my current condition."

"I got him." offered Twilight, as she levitated his unconscious body onto the bed and neatly tucked him in. Twilight looked over to the rest of her friends and guest, a pensive look on her face.

"Now that he's in bed again, this brings us to our next problem—what are we going to do when he wakes up again? He clearly wasn't too comfortable with Fluttershy's home. No offense to you at all, shy." Fluttershy had a look of understanding on her face but a little disappointment in between.

"That's quite alright. He isn't use to the inner workings of Equestrian society. The best way to determine who he should stay with, should be based on what he likes or what he's comfortable with." Fluttershy suggested. Everypony looked in Aramis' direction, awaiting his input.

"Well, he likes to read, discuss literature, an-"

"Twilight!" Everypony syphoned in unison.

"I guess that settles it for him. The question is, should we move him now or wait till he wakes up and risk another freakout?" Twilight asked.

Aramis then sighed again. "Let's just move him. It'll be easier when he's not moving around."

Applejack then positioned herself so that she was next to Graham's body. Twilight then used her magic to gently cradle him onto Applejack's back. They soon trotted out the door, and towards a place that would fit him best...

"Sugarcube, are ya sure this'll work?" she laid him down onto a couch in the back of the library.

"It's the only place that fits to his likings, Applejack. Anywhere else would only worsen the situation. If I can calm him down when he wakes up, we might even find out how he and the other one got here." Twilight explained.

"Hey! I got a name you know" Aramis complained with a sarcastic snide in his voice. Applejack only chuckled and walked out, giving the unicorn her space. The purple pony ignored him and sat down close to the unconscious man, waiting for him to awaken once more.

A few hours had past, as he began to stir once again. He looked around, and noticed the change in scenery. He knew it wasn't familiar to him, but he felt a little more at ease about his surroundings as he noticed a whole library covered his field of view.

Twilight looked up to see him rub his eyes. "Ah, you're awake again Graham. Can I trust you not to violently freak out this time?" she almost tempted to use her magic to plug her ears in case he would have another tantrum. Surprisingly though, he sat there with a neutral expression on his face. Before he could reply though, a black blur had passed by her and sent him back onto the couch.

"It's nice to see you too Gypsy!" He chuckled as he pet the happy canine's head, he soon pushed her off and sat back up again. "I think I'm ok...um...sorry about earlier..." He said as he rubbed his neck, still feeling that powerful chop Aramis gave him.

"It's alright, we understand, you're not used to all of these changes, what with being in Equestria and all..."

Graham froze. "Did...did you just say—Equestria...?" He stuttered, The unicorn only nodded. Graham couldn't believe what he heard. He knew Equestria was the world that his favorite show took place in. It couldn't possibly exist...could it? And if that was the case, what else was made to be true? That giant turtles kidnapped royalty? What next? He almost lost it, when Aramis patted him on his back. He looked over to see his best friend's calm, but serious face.

"Before you overreact, we need to have a chat real quick. That's if you don't mind Twilight." he gave her a pleading look for a moment and she stood up.

"If you two need anything, I'll be upstairs. Okay?" was all she said, walking upstairs as they gave her nods of acknowledgement.

"Alright. I can tell your surprised as to why we're here and frankly I have no clue _why_ were in _Equestria_ of all places." his friend was just as equally confused as Graham was. The confused look on Graham's face faded, but not before being replaced with an excited expression.

"Dude!" he whispered. "Don't you know what this means!" his excitement beginning to bubble up.

"Ummm, that we're in a world of ponies?" he knew what Graham really wanted to say, but didn't want to test the current sanity level of his rather overexcited friend.

"We're in fucking brony paradise! It's real! All of it! Real!" a maddening look that could make Nightmare Moon shudder in fear at the insanity of it, scaring his best friend a bit.

"Graham, don't you think you're getting just a _wee_ bit too excited?" he suggested with a nervous chuckle, fearing the impending "brony" freak out almost any brony worth their salt practiced for if they ended up in the same predicament they were in.

"Aramis this is the greatest thing that has ever happened to us! Don't you see? We're in fucking Equestria, home of the mane six. Especially Twilight Sparkle! You know how much I like her! She's my favorite pony!" He kept rambling on and on about their situation. His excitement was as powerful as a double explosion. Hell, he was just about to run around when he was suddenly interrupted by a hand covering his mouth.

"Why don't you kickback, relax, and maybe avoid another heart attack. If anything, at least wait till Twili-" The two interrupted as they heard a tiny gasp. Aramis looked behind to see the very same mare Graham had been obsessively talking about, hiding behind a door; her mouth agape in shock.

"You heard every bit of what we said—well mostly Graham, right?" he asked with a deadpanned expression that bothered on a facepalm.

"I couldn't help but overhear...and I was very curious..." She replied as she slowly walked out from her hiding spot. She looked at Graham with disbelief.

"How do you know me, and how do you know of my friends?" her curiosity was getting the best of her despite the fear she felt at someone knowing so much about her friends and her.

"Why don't we go for a walk outside of town, were we wont be heard discussing this...sensitive topic." Aramis nervously suggested.

-

It had taken them roughly half an hour or so to put real distance between them and Ponyville, without arousing the attention of the other ponies or her friends. The neck of woods the group slowly traversed through was the safe equivalent of the Everfree forest. its vast woods were full of life. all the trees they could see for miles had luscious green leaves, some of them holding many kinds of fruits.

"This is great!" Graham said excitedly as they kept walking.

"I get it, Graham, we're in Equestria. You can stop the Brony squeals now." Aramis muttered under his breath with a sarcastic sneer.

"What was that?" Graham asked, his tone flat as a chalkboard; as he stopped walking all together.

"Oh, it was nothing. Just saying that you should just tone down the excitement, just a bit." Aramis put on his best poker face, hoping to get past the moment. Before their banter could continue any further, a loud cough interrupted them. The two looked over to see the purple unicorn, gazing at them with a stern expression.

"Well, would you care to tell me how you know me, my friends, or even Equestria at that?" A look of contempt mixing in with the apprehension she currently felt towards them.

"That's kind of hard to explain... not without you either diving off the deep end or going into shock. Why not have Aramis explain? He's _much_ better than me at explaining things." Sweat was forming on his forehead as the nervousness of her question made him feel uneasy about telling her the truth, at least, not without somehow screwing up. It did unfairly put his friend on the spotlight, however.

"You owe me big time for this" Aramis muttered to him before turning back to the mare.

"Hmm... where to begin? What if I told you that a huge number of people of our race, including us, could watch your adventures with your friends through a magical box of sorts." he began, hoping to dear Celestia her curiosity wouldn't edge her on to question further into the "magical box".

"What is this "magical box" and what exactly does it _truly_ allow you to do?" Clearly giving off the feeling that she knew he wasn't being fully forthcoming with his explanation.

"I want to know more than just the "magical box", I want to know how you know of _us,_ because as far as I'm concerned, there's no way you two should even know of our existenc_e_." her eyes narrowed towards the two with a fierce glare, daring them to even _think_ of lying to her.

"Alright, alright. I'll start from the top..." cracking under her anger and pressure, he wanted to be honest to her.

"You see, back in our home world, a planet we call Earth, we have what is known as a "television set" which allows us to view all kinds of shows ranging from entertainment to world news. There is one particular show we have watched since it's official release, called My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. This show details the adventures of you and the other mares, along with all sorts of wacky adventures, personal struggles, and even the battle against Nightmare Moon, _and_ the God of Chaos—Discord." Twilight sat on her haunches, mouth slightly agape in shock, but nodded her head in acknowledgment.

"Keep going." she persisted.

"We've watched all sorts of your experiences, especially when Spike's greed got the best of him on his birthday and turned him into a full-sized dragon. There was even that one awesome episode where Pinkie Pie became insane; talking to rocks and turnips and even forgetting her own birthday, but I digress. We've seen just about everything each of you have been through and know just about everything there is to know about you six, given what the show has shown us." She sat in silence, mulling over all the information he had given her. A look of disgust began to twist onto her face, a realization that made her stomach turn in thick knots at the epiphany she just had. Since the first day she stepped into Ponyville, Twilight and her friends had never had any actual privacy. A small but powerful thought nagged at the back of her head. Just how much did this human know about her?

"I have a few questions that I want you_,_ and ONLY you_,_ to answer" She began with an angry tone, her hoof pointed directly at Graham.

"Exactly when and how did I meet Spike?" She questioned and waited almost impatiently for a response.

"The way I remember it, you were a filly when you were taking the entry exam for the university for gifted unicorns, in which you had to hatch a egg using only your magic. You tried your hardest to hatch it, but couldn't even get it to budge as you started to crack under the pressure from the scrutiny of the practitioners. You were moments away from failing until a rainbow-colored explosion startled you into unleashing all your magic in the room simultaneously upon everypony in the room. Your parents were turned into plants, the newly hatched Spike was bigger than the school, and the practitioners were being levitated together through the air. Celestia intervened and helped you control your magic. That was the day you not only became her student and acquired your cutie mark, but also gained your own foal... well sorta, but you know what I mean..." He had answered her quickly and to the point, hoping to dissuade her distrust of him. She nodded slowly at him and thought of another question.

"What outfit was I wearing during the latest Nightmare Night?" she smirked, thinking she had him in her hooves as there was no way he could know of such a celebration.

"That's an easy one—Starswirl the Bearded. I have to say that your costume was very original, although it's second to Ermac from Mortal Kombat, which I saw only three times." Her purple eyes widened in disbelief at his answer.

"How in the name of Celestia do you know that? None of the other ponies except Princess Luna herself knew who that costume was supposed to represent!" She practically screamed at him in astonishment.

"Simple, my little pony, from the telly!" He exclaimed quite proudly, as he mock-saluted her and bowed.

"Graham... your British is showing again" He said with a roll of his eyes, slapping him on the shoulder quite hard. Graham wreathed in pain as he spoke in a unfamiliar tongue to Twilight.

**"Ow! Was zur Hölle war das? Ich schlag sie ohne Ende!" **Graham screamed at the top of his lungs.

Twilight could only tilt her head in confusion. "What kind of language was that?" She asked out loud. Aramis looked at the fuming man.

"That was definitely German, and I think he just said he was going to kick my ass..." Aramis simply inching away from his friend as he calmed down.

"I had a feeling he would still be a little sore from the procedure, but not _that _sore. I really should have given him some painkillers in hindsight." She mumbled, mostly to herself.

"I'm good now, no need to worry at all. I guess I might have overreacted a little" he finished with a chuckle while rubbing the back of his neck.

"I guess I might have overreacted a _little_" Aramis sarcastically mocked Graham in a purposely bad imitation. Twilight brought them back into focus, however.

"Alright, one last question... what is my favorite band of all time?" her eyes narrowing in total seriousness at the rather childish question. He stood there, sweat trickling down his face as he could never recall the show mentioning anything about a band, let alone listening to any kind of music except classical. A slight smirk graced her features.

"I-I...I actually don't know" Graham admitted in defeat, his head hanging low.

"Really? I guess you really don't know _everything_ about me, now do you?" She giggled at him, his head snapping into her direction.

"You mean to tell me you were just joking with me?" he looked at her dazedly.

"Of course I was. There was no way _anypony_ would know. Not even my friends know... since they haven't asked, that is. Though for your information, or should I say both of you" getting Aramis' attention. "My favorite band in all of Equestria are the Colt 5. They're just simply amazing~" Twilight sighed deeply at the thought of the band." Especially Levine Silverwing, his voice is just ethereal" She gushed.

"Colt 5? That sounds just like a band I know from Earth" Aramis pondered out loud. "Is their first Album called Songs About Jane by any chance?" He asked curiously.

"Not that I remember. Their first album is called Songs About Luna." she stated as she tapped her chin with her hoof in remembrance.

"Are one of the songs named "Through With You"? he asked, hoping that some semblance of his favorite band had been kept in check.

"Yeah, that's one of my favorite songs in the album, even if it didn't get as popular as the other songs, like "Sunday Morning"." She sighed wistfully.

"It's nice talking about the Colt 5 and all, but I think we should probably head back to Ponyville, since I'm pretty sure your friends might be waiting on you." He had secretly been itching to see more of Ponyville than his show had let on.

"Sure, why not? Plus, I think it's about time I gave you two a tour of our town so we can gather the other girls and show you the key points of our town." She offered.

"Lead the way back then, Twilight" Graham said with a mock bow, the three of them laughing a bit before heading off in the directions of Ponyville.

-

"So... where are we headed first?" Graham asked as they headed towards the middle of the town.

"I'd like you to meet Pinkie Pie first. She's an employee of Sugarcube Corner." Twilight replied.

"Please tell me she isn't as insane as when we see her on the show?" Aramis nearly begged.

"She's not _that_ bad. She's just... well... Pinkie!" Twilight giggled as they reached their destination. She opened the door and came up to the counter. The smell of sweets filled their noses as they wandered inside, looking all around the store to see it's many items for purchase.

"Pinkie! Are you here?" Twilight called out, trying to get a better look in the kitchen. She heard a loud crash, and a pink pony sprang right up to the counter. She laughed really loud and bounced around.

"Hiya Twilight! How are the humans? You gotta tell me! Pretty please with cherries on top!" The unicorn only smiled.

"Why don't you ask us in person?" Graham answered as Pinkie Pie quickly turned around, running right over to them.

"Oh my gosh are you two alright?" she turned to Aramis.

"ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" he nodded as he flinched at the loudness of her voice.

"ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" Graham also nodded, hoping to quiet her down.

She squealed loudly in excitement, hopping around the room excitedly; addressing the two while she did so "If you two are alright, you know what this calls for?" her usual smile stretching impossibly wider.

"A heart-warming "congratulations" because of our recovery?" Aramis asked, praying to the power of Celestia she wasn't about to suggest what he thought she was going to suggest.

"No, you silly filly! A party! A "welcome to Ponyville" party to be exact!" She gleefully pranced around, checking her inventory of ingredients in the bakery.

"There's no nee-" Graham tried to reassure her only to get cut off.

"Of Course there is! After all, I know EVERY pony in Ponyville and it would be so rude of me to not welcome you two here! I'll see you two at your party!" And with that she disappeared out of sight, running off on her own to prepare for the party neither human had agreed to.

**Authors Note:**

**Henry Anthony Courtler: Hello everyone, I'd like to personally wish everyone on FanFiction and beyond a Merry Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Holidays. Everyday I've worked on this story, has brought me a new kind of joy. The joy of testing and even pushing my skills to the metal. I've enjoyed working not only this retelling, but on continuation of the series "Love Takes Time" and it's been a wonderful learning experience of sorts with plenty of thinking and adventure. I really couldn't have it anyway and I thank Doomlord for writing the original that caught my attention and all you readers for caring enough to read this awesome retelling.**

**On a side note, we've added quite the few music related jokes so for those who like music or pop, good luck picking up the joke. The next chapter will certainly be exciting and will continue the wacky day Graham and Aramis have been having so expect to see it soon. Once again Merry Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Holidays!**

**Doomlord1234: First off, i'd like to say Merry X-mas, Happy Hanukkah, Kwanzaa...and if you don't celebrate anything...Happy Shut-the-Fuck-Up. Now, onto the real business. When we started this chapter, we were originally going to post it as ONE BIG CHAPTER. Unfortunately, due to...minor delays, we were forced to split it into two parts. For now, enjoy what has been given to you. Happy Holidays to all of ya!**


	4. Welcome to Ponyville!

Chapter 4: Welcome to Ponyville!

The two stood in an awkward silence that lasted for nary a moment before Aramis nearly broke down in tears.

"For the love of Celestia! Why can't she be a normal pony for one moment and just let us have some sort of say as to if we even _want_ a party!" He cried hysterically, feeling annoyed at the pink pony's chaotic introduction and sporadic party planning, without consent that she had just carried out.

"I suppose that since she's Pinkie... there's no point questioning the situation any further, right?" he asked out loud. Twilight nodded her head, trying her hardest to stifle her laughter at his rather comedic misery. She failed miserably, however.

"Hardy har har! Just laugh it up why don't ya." Aramis stated sullenly, heading for the door to save some face. The other two just followed after him, giggling silently.

"So who's up next in our list of visitors?" Graham suddenly asked out of the blue as they walked towards the town square.

"Rarity, then Fluttershy, Applejack, and possibly Rainbow Dash if she isn't lazing about on some cloud." Twilight acted as if it was an organized check list she wanted to fulfill.

"Anyways, do keep close to me while we go around Ponyville, the ponies here might overreact so please forgive them if they give you two weird reactions." She apologized on behalf of the town, acting like she somehow shared the blame.

Twilight had hit the nail on the mark with her prediction of the town folk overreacting as many looked at the two humans as if they had grown a second head. Others grabbed their  
>children and turned their prying eyes away from the two before almost galloping off with them in the clear opposite direction. Many for the most part quickly trotted away into the safety of nearby stores, homes, or restaurants, hoping to steer clear from the "odd" creatures.<p>

In a way, Graham felt that their prejudice against them bordered on being worse than how many of the townsfolk reacted to Zecora's first arrival in Ponyville, which had only further motivated her of keeping her home away from the town until the Mane 6 befriended her. Fortunately for them, they had finally arrived at the Carousel Boutique, away from public scrutiny and the rather cold-hearted welcome they had received from the citizens. The chime of the bell went off and they heard someone scuffling a few things around in a room deeper inside the Boutique.

"Just a minute! I'll be right on over once I finish my stitching!" She bellowed from the studio room she crafted all her dresses, accessories, and more in.

"Rarity, it's me, Twilight!" she yelled over. They heard her trot on over quickly to the main lobby, which was also a living room at the same time with the simple retro-inspired furniture with some magazines strewn about on the coffee table in the middle of the furniture set.

"Oh, why hello there you three! It's nice to see you two up and about after that scare you gave us!" She greeted warmly, hugging the two.

"Do forgive me for my lack of matters; my name is Rarity and I'm the proud owner of the Carousel Boutique, an aspiring clothes designer, _and_ the bearer of the Element of Generosity!" She let her little introduction sink in before the two humans nodded in understanding.

"Well in that case my name is Graham, and it's a pleasure to meet you. I guess all I can say is that I'm into simple things... like reading books, playing games, etc..." Graham trailed, hoping to dodge explaining who he was.

"And I'm Aramis. It's an honor to meet a designer of great caliber such as yourself! I must say your designs are quite dashing, if the display mannequins are anything to go by" Aramis said as he took in the sight of the many intricate and detailed dresses and accessories she had designed.

Rarity only blushed lightly at his compliment. "Oh my, thank you very much for your kind words, but these aren't _nearly_ my best works." She giggled in modesty.

"Not your best! That's preposterous, all the designs you have around your shop are simply marvelous! There's no need to be so modest about your great skills, Miss Rarity!" Aramis said earnestly.

"I gotta agree, Rarity, your dresses are all wonderful... I can't really decide which dress is best! From all I've seen, each one is beautiful, and are all unique in their own special way!" Twilight added. Rarity just blushed from all the appraisal.

"Well, if you guys insist... but in any case you two must let me design some new clothes for you sometime soon! You two look like you haven't owned new clothes in months, and I know just the designs to really make you two stand out. Would you like that?" Rarity asked, secretly hoping for a chance to take a try at designing clothes for a non-pony species.

"Well, neither of us have any money..." Graham said sorrowfully. He looked at the white mare as she only smiled. "No need dear, I understand that you are both new here, so consider it a gift." She said afterwards. The two only thanked her over her astounding generosity.

Rarity looked at her inventory as she levitated a measurement tape and a notepad. "I'll just take your measurements now, if you don't mind." She insisted. The two only looked at one another and looked away. "Um... okay, I guess." Aramis said with embarrassment.

"On one condition." Graham added.

"Well, what is it darlings?" She asked, confusion planted on her face.

"We get measured alone." Rarity only giggled as she agreed. She first took Aramis in a separate  
>room.<p>

"Alright, so do you need me to stand still and hold my arms out or something?" he guessed.

"That's exactly what I need you to do, except you need to strip down." She nearly giggled at his embarrassed expression. He took off his hoodie and shirt in one fell swoop. Then he took off his shoes, unbuckled his belt and took off his pants, standing in her dressing room in nothing more than his black boxers.

"Can we continue?" he asked, interrupting Rarity who was clearly looking him over. She blushed slightly and regained her professional composure.

"By strip down, I meant _all_ the way. I need to be able to get detailed and precise measurements of you to compensate for your anatomy." she explained. His face light up brighter than a stop sign as he slowly took of his boxers. He had one hand covering his genitals and shivered slightly from the windy draft that swept through him.

"Aramis, I can tell you're clearly embarrassed at doing something like this, but I promise you it'll be quick and you'll like the results of my precise measurements." She pleaded, hoping to get it done and over it with for his sake.

He sighed deeply. "Fine...let's get this over with." he held his arms out and looked straight ahead. Rarity quickly and efficiently used her magic to measure his entire body with multiple measure tapes, taking notes down here and there. In less than ten minutes, she had managed to get hundreds of measurements to get a good idea about his body build and what kinds of clothes would suit him and which kinds would need some reworking. Once she finished, he redressed himself and walked out to the lobby and wish Graham luck.

"What for?" he asked confusedly.

"You'll find out soon" was his ominous reply.

After Aramis was finished, Rarity guided Graham towards the same room. He closed the door behind him and sighed. Rarity picked up on his uneasiness. "What's wrong darling?" Rarity asked.

Graham looked at her and chuckled a bit nervously. "Well, I've never really had measurements before..." Rarity smiled reassuringly.

"It won't be that bad, all you need to do is take off your clothing, and let me measure. That's all there is to it!" She looked at his face to see that it was more than just his first time being measured.

"Is it that you're afraid of being... well, naked?" Graham shook a little bit and sighed.

"Yes, we humans don't exactly run around without clothing. We're a little bit more inclined to what we wear, so to speak." Rarity tilted her head. "Well, what does clothing mean to you?"  
>Graham thought about it. "Well, it keeps me warm, makes me look good, and hides things I don't want others seeing... that's about it..." He said as Rarity let his words sink in.<p>

"Well if it makes you feel any better, would you be at least comfortable with stripping down to your underwear?" she compromised, hoping to save him any further embarrassment.

"I guess..." he nervously replied. The unicorn swiftly took his measurements, trying her hardest not to make him feel uncomfortable. Graham stood still, looking at her every movement. After she had finished, Rarity had briskly walked out of the room to allow him to change. He came out moments later, still appearing slightly disgruntled, but comfortable.

"I'm very sorry for taking so long there Twilight, but you know how I am with my measurements." Rarity apologized.

"It isn't a big deal. Plus, you did have some interesting magazines to read." she said with a slight blush. The fashionista turned her sights to Aramis, catching his attention with her deep cerulean blue eyes.

"Aramis, could I talk to you for a moment— in private please?" she asked. He nodded and followed her into the back.

"What's up?" was all he said.

"I just wanted to apologize for forcing you to completely undress... I didn't understand why you two were so attached to your clothes until Graham explained it to me. I just get so car-" he interrupted her with a hug.

"It's not your fault Rarity. You didn't know any better, and frankly it's my fault for not being clear about my comfort zone and how humans view clothing as." Aramis explained calmly, letting go of the hug to pat her mane and walk back out to the living room. She smiled fondly at his kindness and followed him out. The group then took their leave, leaving Rarity to her work.

The mid-afternoon sun blazed brightly upon them as they aimlessly walked through town, heading again through Ponyville Square. Many ponies were bustling the streets, some with children, some with a special someone, and others purchasing goods or services from the many market stands. Before they could continue any further, a greeting got their attention.

"Hey-a fellers! How you three doing!" shouted a pony in their direction. They turned around to find Applejack diligently working the Sweet Apple Acres market stand by herself, surrounded by all kinds of apple-related products.

"Well, hey to you too Applejack!" Graham called out as they walked over. The market stand she was attending was filled with many apple-related sweets, such as pies, crumb cakes,  
>and many other items for sale. Graham could only drool at all of the food right in front of him. Aramis suddenly grabbed the back of Graham's shirt and pulled him back.<p>

"Easy, buddy." he said as Graham only whimpered. He and Aramis never  
>really ate since their arrival in Ponyville and Graham was definitely showing it. Applejack could only laugh as she picked up a pie. She handed it towards the man and simply smiled. "Take it, it's on the house." Graham soon took a piece and chomped a big mark into it. Graham could only lick his lips clean of the remnant of the pie on his face with sheer happiness.<p>

Aramis' stomach growled loudly in hunger and he rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. "Could I take you up on that offer too there, Applejack?" he asked sheepishly. She grinned and handed him a pie. He took a moderate bite out of it and his eyes lit up at the  
>flavor.<p>

"Like it, I take it?" She asked as the two only stood there. "Like it? We Love it!" they both said in unison. The others laughed as they bit into their pies again. Applejack waved them off as they walked away.

"Come by Sweet Apple Acres when y'all get the chance!" she yelled out as the group headed towards what appeared to be Fluttershy's house.

They reached their destination and Graham looked around. "I remember this now... wasn't this where I was being fixed up?" Graham asked.

Aramis only shuddered. "Let's try not to think about it, buddy." he said rather quickly as the two followed Twilight towards the door.

Twilight knocked as Fluttershy answered almost instantly. It was as if she was waiting right next to the door the entire time.

"Um... hello?" Fluttershy saw it was them and her wings made her float towards the two. She looked all over them, hoping not to find a single scratch.

"You two have made a very great recovery!" she said excitedly, her voice slightly higher than what her friends were used to hearing.

"Well, when you have a capable pony such as Twilight on the job, then you're definitely in capable han- er hooves." Graham chuckled a little bit at his slip up.

"Don't go discredit her Graham... it was her who found us as a broken mess. If it wasn't for her finding us and her expert bandaging skills, I'm not quite sure if we would have made it as well as we have." Aramis said, his voice full of appraisal and thanks to the shy, kind-hearted pegasus who had put aside her fear for the safety of others.

"I-I was just trying to do the right thing. I would _never_ leave a poor creature injured or to die alone; I'll always stay by their side until I know their fully recovered." Fluttershy admitted modestly.

"That's why you're the Element of Kindness, Fluttershy. You're just so caring of others no matter whom or what they are. If they're in danger or in a crisis, you're the first one there to try to help in any way you can and you shouldn't let that discourage you. She smiled brightly at his uplifting statement and invited them in. They all took a comfy seat on one of the long couches and laid back while Fluttershy walked over to the kitchen.

"Would you three like some tea?" she quietly asked them.

The three of them nodded while they calmly waited for her to brew the tea. Once she had finished, she balanced a tray on her wings with the tea pot, cups, milk, cream, and even sugar and delicately placed it on the coffee table. She herself took a seat diagonally from the three of them.

"Cream, milk, or sugar?" Fluttershy asked them.

"Milk, I suppose..." Graham answered while she poured it into the drink, while looking at Aramis.

"I'll have some cream and sugar if that's alright with you Fluttershy." Aramis politely asked.

"Sugar and milk works just dandy for me 'Shy." Twilight said. Within moments, all three of them had their tea served and quietly sipped at it before Aramis cheerily commented on the  
>taste.<p>

"You are most certainly a good tea brewer, Fluttershy! This tastes amazing and with both cream and sugar, it tastes even better." Aramis praised her tea brewing skills excitedly, contently sipping at his tea.

"I gotta agree, this is really good!" Graham added as he finished his drink quickly.

"Are either of you two experiencing any pains or aches since your full recovery? That is, if you don't mind me asking." the shy Pegasus asked, wanting to make sure that their wounds had been given enough time to heal correctly. Both shook their heads as she sighed in relief.

"Good! That's good..." was all she said as the two kept sipping their tea. Aramis and Graham looked at her, and wondered how she could handle taking care of so many animals.

"Fluttershy, if you don't mind me asking, I was wondering how you manage to take care of all the animals not just on your property, but in the surrounding areas without breaking down... It's just so amazing at how you seem to perfectly manage it without breaking a sweat." Aramis rambled, feeling deep respect for the pegasus and just how much  
>work she tasks herself with on a daily basis.<p>

"It's not at all stressful, in fact, I find it an enjoyable experience" Fluttershy answered. She sipped more of her tea and looked up. "Taking care of animals is possibly the greatest thing I've ever done in my life. It's calm, and I'm helping creatures." She said, a bright smile stretched across her soft features that could make even the saddest of people smile back.

Graham realized that they had quite a lot of places to see, so he stood up. "We have a lot of other ponies to visit, I hope you don't mind us leaving."

"Not at all, it was a pleasure to finally see you two after that horrible accident." the yellow Pegasus smiled. "I'll see you later, ok?" The two only smiled and waved as they left with Twilight once more and began to aimlessly walk back towards Ponyville, when Aramis yelped loudly as he tripped and fell face first into a puddle of mud. Graham and Twilight laughed mercilessly at his expense.

"Laugh it up you two... laugh it up why don't ya." he muttered, spitting out some mud that had gotten in his mouth. A blur of rainbow flew above them before a figure hovered nearby.

"Oh come on, that was hilarious!" Graham chuckled as he helped him up and looked up at the floating figure above them. "Oh hey, Rainbow Dash!" she looked down at the mud-soaked man and couldn't stop laughing.

"Mind giving me a hoof here?" Aramis asked while signaling to his clothes.

"Sure! I'll get ya cleaned up in ten seconds flat!" she said with an air of finality. Rainbow Dash quickly flew just a bit higher, grabbed a cloud and jumped on it, causing rain to pour on her friend. Once she was satisfied, she flew around him in a tight circle and dried him out. When she had finished, Aramis looked as clean as he had before the mud incident.

"Thanks, Rainbow Dash!" he said with a bright smile. She blushed at his honest praise and socked him in the shoulder.

"Not a problem, Aramis! Glad to see you two up and about though. I was worried you two would take _forever_ to recover. Now I can show you all my new awesome moves, and you'll see why I should be part of the Wonderbolts!" She stated with a conventionally common, bragging tone.

"Can't wait to see THIS." Graham said, challenging the cyan blue pegasus.

She looked at him with an angry smirk, before it twisted into the cynical kind.

"Oh really? You think _I_ the fastest pony in _all_ of Equestria can't pull off my newest tricks? What, do you think I'm some sort of...one trick pony?" the determination she felt burned brightly in her violet eyes that stared holes into Graham.

He brushed her off and laughed. "Whatever you wan—"

"No! We are going to settle this one way or another."

"Alright. Anytime, anyplace and we'll see if you can pull off your fancy new areal tricks.

"How about the field nearby Sweet Apple Acres tomorrow?"

"Alright, it's a deal"

"You'll be eating your words in ten seconds flat after I'm through with you."

"We'll just have to see about that, won't we Rainbow Dash." She turned to face the group, her eyes focused on Aramis, who slightly blushed at the intensity of her stare.

"You will see just how good I am." she said with a defiant, yet competitive smirk and with that she flew off to finish her weather duties.

"Well that was nice." Graham said as he kept walking. As Twilight lead the group once again, a big smirk formed on Graham's face. "So, care to tell me about that crush of yours, Ara-Dash."

"Are you mad?" he asked Graham with a calm mock British accent.

"Mad about what? I've nothing to be mad about you stupid git." He said back in that British accent.

"Says the wanna be British wanka'!" he snidely replied back.

"I'm more British than you'll ever be, so that means more girls will love me! Haha! Everyone loves the British Guy!" He laughed pointing at his direction.

"Oh really? Care to share with everypony just how _great_ your love life was on Earth?" his gaze remained sharp on his close friend.

"Shut up..." He snorted and crossed his arms.

"Alright guys, how about we just go back to the library? It isn't nice for friends like you two too argue like this?" She pleaded with them, in hopes of preventing things from really getting out of control. Luckily, the two had headed her plea and calmly walked along both sides of her in silence.

"Right, right..." Graham said; scratching the back of his head as the two followed closely. They found themselves back at her tree house within minutes of their childish bickering when they waltzed inside its door. It was getting late out, as the moon was full and shining with the stars.

As soon as they walked in, they were greeted with a big yell from a bunch of other ponies. "SURPRISE! WELCOME TO PONYVILLE!" Aramis took it quite well and smiled, while Graham nearly had another heart attack.

It seemed like every pony that was walking the streets of Ponyville were part of this celebration. If not for Pinkie Pie, they would probably stare at them all the time, but each pony had a look of understanding, and happiness in seeing the two. Graham heard a bark and looked to his side to see his dog.

"Did Fluttershy take care of ya, girl?" He smiled as the dog only wagged her tail happily after finally being reunited with friends.

Pinkie Pie and the others walked over to greet them as the others started talking with the others on their own.

"Great party, huh? We got punch, cake, soda, candy, and everything just for you!" Pinkie bounced around as the others laughed, Graham on the other hand seemed a bit off by all of this. Aramis looked over and patted his friend on the back.

"Hey, you alright man?" Graham shook out of it, ignoring whatever made him feel uncomfortable and smiled.

"Yeah, I'm just taken back on all of this," He lied. His smile closing the deal on it. "This party looks awesome, Pinkie! Did you do all this by yourself?" Pinkie shook her head.

"No. Everypony pitched in after I told them of your arrival, and how you were both hurt in a fall. They all understood, and wanted to help! My friends here helped the most though!" She giggled, as the other four ponies only smiled.

"T'was nothin' hard." Applejack grinned. The other ponies chipped in after her comment.

"Oh, don't worry yourselves at all darlings!" Rarity said with a toss of her hair.

"It was so easy; I had my part done in ten seconds flat!" Rainbow Dash puffed out her chest in pride at being able to help.

"I-I-I hope you two like it..." Fluttershy timidly said, feeling uncomfortable around the large number of ponies she didn't really know too well.

Everyone partied and played all sort of games, having a blast and enjoying their time welcoming the two humans to their urban town. Graham's mood however, was on a steady decline. It wasn't that he didn't like the party. It wasn't that he didn't want to celebrate. Heck it wasn't the fact that somecolts were getting flirtatious with Twilight in a very rowdy matter. It wasn't like she couldn't handle them, as she had promptly put them in their place and went back to enjoying the festivities while he sat upstairs watching.

Something about the party didn't bode well with him. It stirred something deep inside him, a feeling he had spent years trying to repres—

"You alright Graham? You're looking a little down man..." Aramis called from the bottom of the stairs, his concern shadowed by the lack of lighting from the top of the stairwell.

"Everything is fine. Just gimme a few minutes." He said from up the stairs. "I just need some time alone for a minute."

Aramis knew it was something far deeper than what he let on. Without his consent, he walked up the stairs looking for him, but noticed he had moved from his spot. He saw a room, whose door was slightly ajar and walked inside, hoping to find Graham. He looked around the dark room to see a lump in a bed. He walked towards it and shook it.

"Bud I know something's up...come on talk to me; were like brother for God's sake!" He pleaded, but the silence only made it increasingly unnerving. He grabbed it to see it wasn't Graham at all, but a lump of items stacked together to make it look like him. He looked in worry towards the light to see the mess, and an open window.

"TWILIGHT! GRAHAM'S GONE!" Aramis shouted. The music stopped, and everypony gasped in unison. The mane six ran straight upstairs to see he had truly vanished.

"Where in da' hay could he 'ave gone to?" Applejack panicked.

"He didn't even have any of the cake that I made!" Pinkie pulled at her hair in frustration.

"Aramis, did you notice anything wrong with him as we walked around Ponyville?" Twilight stared at the man as he scratched his head.

"Well...he seemed pretty broody after the whole run in with Rainbow Dash and that argument we kinda sorta had. Then he just seemed to get more and more upset. I have a real bad feeling about this...We need to find him pronto, or things may get out of han- er hoof quite quickly." He stared out the window, the worry evident on his face as the mares struggled to get some items together along with a key helper to light the way...Hopefully, Graham wasn't too far away, or in any danger to himself or even the community.

**Authors Note: **

**Doomlord1234: Sorry for the BIG wait, everypony! We had a little bit of a setback, but now we're back with more work for all to see! As you can see, the problems are now a bit more mysterious, and things will only go downhill for Graham as he struggles with past tides. Welp, off for the next chapter, see ya!**

**Henry AnthonyCourtler: First off, I would also like to apologize for the somewhat long delay since chapter 3. A lot of stuff will be happening going forward so I hope you enjoy it.**


	5. Am I Even Human?

**Chapter 5: Am I Even Human?**

The whole town was soon looking for him. Each pony looked far and wide within the confines of Ponyville. Every citizen looked within their homes, in the parks, everywhere and anywhere they could think of, but to no avail. Twilight and the others were about to give up, when the purple mare thought of something.

"If he's not in Ponyville...he must be in..." She stopped in her tracks as she saw the entrance to the Everfree Forest before her. Her friends had decided to check around the town yet again just to make sure, leaving her alone to her own devices. She slowly walked past the entrance, as she called out his name with no answer.

_Where could he be? He could only get so far..._ She thought to herself as she traversed deeper within the forest's boundaries. She soon came upon a cliff that seemed really steep. Twilight looked down and thought out loud. "I remember this... this was when Applejack first showed her honesty, when I was about to fall to my death.." She looked for an easier way down, found it, and slid down to the ground below. She safely walked away from the memory, as she kept trotting forth into the darkness of the forest.

Several minutes passed by as she nervously walked along. She took notice of every detail of the forest floor. All of the leaves and small animals that would occasionally run by her made her feel calmer. The world around her was quiet and sound. She loved the peacefulness of it all. She soon came across another familiar place. She walked into what looked like a narrow clearing.

"Now this I could never forget! This was where the Manticore attacked us, and Fluttershy tamed it with her kindness." She could only smile at the thought of the memories racing back, Applejack trying to ride it, Rainbow Dash swirling around it with her 'Rainbow Tornado' attack. All of it seemed as though it was only a brief moment ago. The thought replayed in her head as she only skipped past the clearing and into a darker part of the forest. Deeper and deeper she went into the forest until she could hardly see ten feet in front of her.

"I better light the way ahead. It's getting too dark here." she said to herself as her horn glowed a bright white aura, illuminating the path ahead. She sighed with relief as she walked past a slew of dead trees. Some looked like they had faces on them. "This was where Pinkie sang that song about learning how to face your fears!" Suddenly, the tune Pinkie had sung so long ago started to play in her head. She started to hum it, but eventually sang it out loud as she walked.

"When I was little filly and the sun was going down..." She quietly hummed the rest as she trotted forth once more. Several minutes had come and gone by the time she had finished humming the entirety of the song. Still, there was no sign of Graham in the slightest.

She walked quietly for a while until she came to the bend of a river. the water was calm and clear; the stream flowing gently through the forest. She looked at the water and noticed a familiar serpent sitting in the bottom of the river. It looked up and sprang out in a glorious spray of water. It looked to be about twenty five feet long, from head to tail. Its scales were of a purple hue, and it had a orange color hair along its head, and a big moustache with the same color. It looked as if it was happy to see her.

"Why, Hello there, little one! It's been a while since we've last seen each other!" The serpent practically sang with glee. Twilight smiled at the friendly face.

"Hello, Steven Magnet." She said as the creature laughed in such a way that would put a smile on anypony's face.

"Oh, you do remember me! I don't believe I told you my name though..." It sat in the river scratching its head in confusion.

"Oh, I remember reading up on you once in a newspaper." She said still focusing on his face. She soon thought about Graham and spoke up. "I don't suppose you know where a strange creature could be lurking do you?" Steven soon tapped his chin with his claw and had a bright complexion upon his features.

"I know what you're talking about. about six feet, looks like some sort of naked monkey with clothes for fur?" Twilight beamed in amusement, trying her hardest to stifle her laughter, but failing miserably.

"Yep that's the very same person I'm looking for. Do you happen to know which direction he went in?" the unicorn hoped with all her might, that the serpent had some idea of where Graham had run off to.

"I most certainly do!" he started off excitedly, coiling a claw around his mustache. "He went off in the direction of that old castle just up ahead. You know, past the bridge?" Twilight took note of the location and thanked him, as the serpent sank back into the watery abyss he was taking refuge in. She came up towards the mentioned bridge and smiled.

"This was the same bridge that we found those Shadow Bolts that Nightmare Moon conjured...trying to trick Rainbow Dash into ditching us. She sure showed them." she said with an angry tone, which quickly changed back to a more cheerful as she reminisced at the potential betrayal she almost suffered.. She carefully worked her way to the other side and saw the ruins ahead. She went into full speed towards it to see her friend sitting by his lonesome in the midst of the debris of the battle she had with Nightmare Moon over a year ago.

"Graham! There you are..." Twilight slowly walked towards into his field of view.

He looked up and smiled weakly. "Oh, Twilight, w-what are you doing here?" Graham tried his hardest to look sincerely happy, but the slight cringe she gave him in return for his smile made him look away from her.

"You ran away from your own party, that's not very nice, you know...Aramis told me that you were sad about something...care to explain?" She asked him, her voice fully laced with concern.

Graham scratched his head. "Well, it's just that I've never had this sorta treatment before. I know for you guys, it's normal and all, but It's kinda weird. It goes back a little ways to why I act this way, if you wanna listen."

"I was just about to ask." A bright spark of curiosity shone in her deep purple orbs. Graham looked at her with a bit of nervousness and sighed to clear it away. "Alright. I warned you. It's pretty long."

Graham laid back on a clean patch of stone and looked up at the ceiling. Twilight found it puzzling for him to do this, but wanted him to feel comfortable any way he told. He laid there for several moments before he spoke.

"It all started back in my home town of Winchester, Massachusetts. This place is part of a big continent called America, which is part of a Planet we like to call Earth. I was just a small boy, about...I want to say about only 2 years of age. Things were pretty well for me. Nice home, family who loved me..."

"Loved you..?" Twilight interrupted. "Don't you mean loves you?" Her head tilted to the side in way that made Graham smile momentarily, but got back to what he was saying just as fast.

"Well, it was about a few days after my birthday, when something went wrong... my mother, god- err, I mean Celestia bless her soul, took me away from him and divorced their marriage. We moved to another place known as Live Oak, which is placed in a state called Florida. We moved to this Trailer, which is just a rectangular home, to live out our normal lives. About five years passed until my mother started dating someone who wasn't exactly the nicest man I ever knew.." He trailed off a bit and twiddled his thumbs a bit.

"Why wasn't he?" Twilight asked immediately. He looked upon her, his eyes filled with anger, hatred, apathy; nothing but the promise of death shone brightly behind his forest green eyes.

"My step-father...wasn't a man of honor. By far he is almost the darkest thing to have ever step foot on Earth. In some ways, that _thing_ is nearly worse than Discord, _Discord _for fuck's sake! The things he's done to my mother, to me, to _our _family is completely unforgiving..." his voice had gone flatter and flatter, almost lifeless at the mere thought of the man who had wrought misery upon him.

"Can you tell me what he's done..." She said, hoping to find out.

Graham only looked at her. "You really wanna know.." He sighed before he continued. "He's run over my foot with his car, which is a giant piece of metal on wheels. He's also bashed my mother over the head with a bottle of booze, wasted about a good chunk of money on stuff we don't even need..." Graham's anger only rose past these sentences until something made him stop. He cooled down quickly and went on with his story.

"Anyways, I don't know what happened, but he sorta...left." his forest green eyes held a faraway look, as his mind thought about the horrors of his childhood.

"Left...as in just vanished?" Twilight's interest peaked to a new height.

He only shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, just kinda, you know, left. They weren't married, so he just packed his things and left us. after that, we were back to being on our own. for a couple years until my mother died."

Twilight gasped in shock. "What did she..die of, if you don't mind me asking that is." she absentmindedly dug a hoof at the ground.

"Um...well, a disease called Hepatitis C." Graham said with a small mutter.

Twilight heard with her enhanced hearing and dropped her ears. "Oh...Oh my...I'm so sorry..." Twilight said with a bit of a shaky voice. Her eyes started to puff up, forming tears. Graham looked over, and frowned a bit.

"Is it a deadly disease...? How is it passed?" Twilight's condition began to worsen at the thought of Graham's overall loss. Graham looking a bit saddened because of what he told her, kept moving forward.

"It's a disease that can be passed by blood, sexual intercourse, the usual. I don't know what happened, but turned out my step dad passed it before leaving. It was kinda like having a knife shoved right in your back, while being flipped the bird." He said showing her the meaning of the phrase by flicking his middle finger in the air. "Never do that to another human. we hate that."

"So...all this...and you bottle these things up...just like that?" Twilight asked him in disbelief, not understanding how someone could bottle up so much pain

"It doesn't really stop there either." He said with a passive expression. Twilight couldn't understand it. He was in so much pain, but he didn't care? This was completely unnatural to any creature who could think on it's own. None of her friends that she cared about played off such serious business like this. So why is he doing it? Is it because nopony ever cared about him up to this point? And that he slowly gave up on it all? What else was he hiding? She had to know.

"Graham, please don't bottle your emotions like this." Graham lifted an eyebrow with confusion towards the purple mare.

"I'm not bottling up anything. I'm perfectly fine." Graham lied as Twilight looked at him with a tear.

"Graham...you've lost so much...what else have you lost...?" She asked with concern.

Graham sighed. "Well, I've lost multiple girlfriends. That's pretty fun. Losing, oh I don't know, about...five?" Twilight frowned.

"How did you lose them...?" She asked immediately. Graham scratched the stub of his chin where his little bit of orange hair stayed. "Let me see...I lost one from her getting bored of me, another by breast cancer, another one from cheating...actually the rest of them were from cheating...but there is ONE girl in particular that I remember doing the most damage..."

"Go on...please...I wish to know everything..." She came closer towards him without him paying attention..

"It was around the beginning of middle school, and I found this girl. Her name...was Crystal," He said with a hint of anger in his voice. "her and I were only friends at the time, but hormones took over my mind when we started dating a a couple years later..."

Twilight lied down to listen more comfortably. Graham continued his little story with another sigh.

"We dated for about five years. Around the fifth anniversary, I had the wonderful idea of buying her a ring...problem was, I didn't have a job, or money...so I got working on doing as many chores for as many people as I could find. It took two years to finally be able to obtain the money to buy her that special ring..."

"And then what happened?" She asked with raised tone. Graham looked at her and frowned.

"Well, it went about like this," he said as he cleared his throat. "It was prom night. It was during our last year in high school, and everything was set to perfection. Me and my girl were eating, and I looked at her, and she was looking somewhere else. I decided it was time, and I knelt down and proposed with the most dazzling ring a woman of my species could ever ask for. When she looked upon it's beauty.." He began to tear a bit.

"She said no?" Twilight moved closer, but kept her distance.

"...She giggled...but it didn't stop there...she started to laugh...she laughed so hard even the Deejay stopped to see what the fuck was going on. She looked at me, grabbed the ring, tossed it in the trash, told me she was cheating the entire time with someone else, to whom I did find after I ran out of the prom...and that was it...I was finished with her, and everything." He said as he clenched his left hand into a fist. "I wanted her to die for what she did..."

Graham's face soon had upon it a wicked smirk that would even make Nightmare Moon shiver in fear. Twilight's look of worry became one of fright as she soon jumped up to him, holding him close. "Please...enough...Graham...I know I don't know you that well...but everything you've told me so far, it's too much...is this what it's like back at your own home? Are all humans like this? A-are they all so _heartless_?" Twilight burst into tears after hearing all the heartbreaking and miserable experiences he had suffered through.

Graham looked down at her, feeling a little bad about everything he said. He slowly gave her a hug back. Even he found himself crying, especially since he hadn't shed any tears in such a long time, and yet there he was, feeling the long forgotten sensation of tears sliding down his face.

"Y-You don't have to hide anything anymore..." Twilight muttered under her breath as Graham kept hugging her. Graham spoke up quietly, a quiver in his voice.

"I-I wont...ever again." He started to calm down as he looked at her. "Thank you so much for staying here. I'm sorry for running...it's just that I've never really had anyo- err anypony throw a party, or give me things, or anything that you ponies did on my planet...Aramis, Gypsy, and I were always looking after each other, as we only had each other. It's downright scary in my home world...but you ponies, just like on the show, you show kindness, and do everything to make us smile. I cant say a darn thing that you all did that wasn't nice.." He said as he sobbed a bit. Twilight took her hoof and wiped the tears from his face.

"We only try to be nice, because it's the right thing to do, we want everypony to be happy." Twilight smiled under her own tears. Graham soon found himself hugging the purple pony even harder. While they comforted each other, they heard rustling in the surrounding bushes. Graham stood up to see what it was, only to find Aramis walk out from them. Gypsy, along with other five ponies closely behind.

"Ugh...do you know how much trekking it took for me to find this damn place, Graham? Jesus, I had to backtrack through my memories based on the opening episodes entirely _just_ to figure out where we were going!" Aramis exclaimed, one of his eyes dangerously twitching in frustration. Graham and Twilight looked at each other and started to laugh.

Applejack trotted up next to Aramis and looked at the two and developed an assumption. "Did you two do some cuddlin' 'r sumthin?" Graham and Twilight stopped laughing immediately and blushed, looking away from each other.

"N-Nothing like that, why?" Twilight stuttered, hurriedly trying to deny the accusation faster than one could say 'Sonic Rainboom'. Applejack only raised an eyebrow, as the others walked over to see if the two were alright.

Rainbow Dash walked towards Applejack, whispering in her ear. "Do you think they really were doing something?" Applejack only nodded, as Rainbow Dash giggled at the thought of Twilight having a coltfriend.

As the others calmed down, Graham looked back at Twilight while the others led them back into town. He knelt down and whispered into her ear. "Thank you for listening to my story, Twilight...you know, you're really nice...Nicest girl I've met in a long time." He smiled as Twilight flushed a bit red on her cheeks.

"N-No problem, Graham. You're my friend, and I would never leave you sulking like that. From now on, you and your friends, are our closest friends." The girls nodded in agreement. Aramis gave a small smile and heartily laughed when Gypsy barked in reply. Graham gave her a quick hug before they caught up with the others. Tonight might not have gone as planned for the group, but between Twilight and Graham, something else emerged, and that...was the beginning of something a little deeper than friendship.

**Doomlord1234: Hello again. Just wanted to make this really short. My co-author has been busy lately, so I haven't been able to update so quickly. Sorry for the inconvenience. Once he's free, we'll update faster. By the way, we are also adding our story and future titles to . Please support our decision by checking out the site, and commenting. Please and thank you in advanced!**

**Henry Anthony Courtler: Hello everypony! Sorry I haven't been available lately, but life has been calling me at its beck and order and I've had to fill in for that. Hopefully, with the upcoming vacation, I'll have more time to write this story and get it out to you bronies and pegasisters.**

**Until then,**

**_Goodnight and Goodluck!_ And one more thing from the both of us...**

_**Keep On Rockin'!~**_


	6. Dawn of Something New

**Sorry we fell behind on updating our story here on fanfic, so to make up for it we got not just one chapter to upload for you guys, but two! Enjoy!**

**Chapter 6: Dawn of Something**

The night was long and tiring, and yet nopony wanted to sleep due to all that has been going on, which was alright with them as the night was behind them, and the sun was rising up in front of their weary, but pleased faces. They headed back to the party that had quietened down since the star guests weren't there, but as soon as the gang entered Twilight's abode Twilight's home once more, the party kicked back up to the prior level of cheer and merriment with nopony questioning what happened, and just enjoyed the fact that everypony was safe and sound, for now anyway.

Graham looked at what he was missing, and saw something he really wanted to try: some of Pinkie Pie's fruit punch. He walked over towards the bowl, and grabbed himself a cup. After serving himself, he got back to the group.

"So what was really going on over at the ruins, Twilight? Was there something wrong, Darling?" Rarity asked. Twilight looked at Graham, as he looked back.

"Err...Nothing really...Just some talking. That's all." Twilight encouraged the idea. Applejack didn't seem satisfied with her answer, and planned to uncover what she believed was truth.

"I know y'all 'r hidin' sumthin'!" Applejack accused. Everypony present looked over towards her direction.

"Applejack, why would you accuse them of anything? If Twilight said it's only talking, then that's what they did." Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "They're our friends, and we gotta trust them!"

"I know, but I feel as though sumthin' _did_ happen!" She replied towards the pink mare. "Graham was gone the whole night, along _with_ Twilight! Sumthin' was _bound_ to happen!" Graham and Twilight snickered at the cowgirl, her rather scandalous accusation being the highlight of their day.

"I assure you, Applejack, nothing happened between us, It was just some talking-" Graham didn't get to finish, as the orange mare interrupted him.

"What was the talkin' about then? Hm? Go on, explain yerselves!" She said pointing a hoof at the two. They looked at each other again and sighed simultaneously.

"Before I begin, why are you so interested towards us?" Graham asked. The orange pony looked at him.

"Cause I feel like you two 'r hidin' sumthin' more. Like a crush fer each other." She smirked as the two's cheeks lit up like fireworks.

"What? Don't be ridiculous..." Twilight looked away. Applejack's suspicions only grew stronger at her denial.

"Gotcha..." Applejack smirked even more noticeably.

"Really Applejack, that is quite the leap you are taking there." Graham responded awkwardly, trying to dismiss the powerful accusation coming from her, both of their faces still red hot.

"Really? Then why r' your faces burnin' up?" Applejack questioned, the blush still remaining intensely on their faces.

"A-applejack it's nothing okay?" the poor mare tried to defend Graham and her, but Applejack was taking it too personal.

"If it was nothing, then what's the big issu—" she was cut off by Aramis, a stern look on his face.

"Applejack, please, cut it out. You know their not comfortable with talking about it yet so quit pushing the envelope. Your the element of honesty and I'm pretty sure you're aware of how uncomfortable you're making them feel and how bossy your coming off to everyone else." Aramis's tone made Applejack reconsider her approach to the subject. She thought about it for several moments and nodded curtly in his direction, understanding of the fact she was done discussing the topic, even though the cowpony wasn't happy about it.

Graham released a sigh of relief and shook Aramis's hand. "Danke, Aramis." Aramis looked at him with a smile. 

"Bitte" Was all Aramis said, as Graham grinned.

"Ah! You're learning!" He shouted joyously, as he laughed and softly punched him in the arm. Twilight smiled and found herself with a brief moment of privacy from the others, as she looked long and hard at Graham. A blush slowly enveloped her face, but was almost immediately wiped off her face, as Pinkie Pie popped up from behind her, giving her what felt like a heart attack.

"Why are ya red, huh Twi? Is it the hot sauce again?" She asked bouncing around. Twilight then put her hoof near Pinkie's mouth and shushed her.

"Can you keep a secret?" She whispered. Pinkie only nodded.

"Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!" She said giggling with a short snort at the end.

Twilight only rolled her eyes as she guided her to a more private part of the house, where nopony could see or hear them.

"So what's the secrecy?" Pinkie asked with a tilt of her head. Twilight only whispered in her ear.

"I don't know if Graham wants me saying anything, but he told me quite a bit about his life...it's quite awful, and I feel really sorry for him...Aramis and his pet are the only friends he's ever had..." she confessed.

Pinkie Pie only gasped, quickly being silenced by the purple mare's hoof once more.

"I just feel like I want to be there for him. He opened up to me about something he said he never told anypony before. Heck, he's never had a true marefriend before either. I want to learn more about him." She said softly. Pinkie's eyes looked as if they would burst from the look of surprise, but soon a smile formed.

"Well, maybe you should-" Pinkie's words were cut was cut off by Spike's sudden appearance with a letter.

"Princess Celestia wants you to have this." He said as he passed the scroll to her. Spike then walked downstairs to see the two men standing at the table in the kitchen.

"Whoa...what the heck are you things? And why are you in our house! You must be robbers!" Spike looked at them with an angry face, with his eyes focused on the both of them like a hawk to its prey.

The two looked at each other and laughed. "Spike, We're not robbers, dear boy!" Graham gasped between chuckles. "We're friends of Twilight and the others." Graham answered after settling down.

"Really? Oh, sorry-wait, how do you know my name?" Spike questioned. Aramis only smiled.

"Easy, Twilight told us about you." He quickly lied. He didn't want to tell the small kid a big story. He thought that he would take it easy, and tell him the truth another day.

"Oh! That makes sense." Spike said afterwards. He figured it was only logical that Twilight told them about her number one assistant.

As the three downstairs were chatting, Twilight and Pinkie read the note together.

"Looks like Princess Celestia wishes to meet the two, and check on things. It'll be a nice visit." Twilight said with a smile.

"Oooooh! I wonder what she wants," Pinkie exclaimed happily "Maybe she's going to wish them a joyful time in Ponyville, or maybe she will be able to send them back home!"

Pinkie's words echoed in Twilight's mind, would Celestia really be able to do that? Would she actually do that if she could? Her mind raced with negative thoughts, no longer paying attention to the party, Pinkie, or anything. Until a voice broke her out of the trance she placed herself in.

"Come on Twilight, let's go have some fun." She looked towards the voice to see Graham standing there offering a hand to her. Her head became clear once more, as she smiled and nodded, placing her hoof in his hand for a moment to show her gratitude for the offer. They went back to the party together well into the day.

The day passed on without a hitch, everypony having a good time, Graham and Twilight spent a lot of their time together while Aramis ended up spending time with Rainbow Dash. The party finally ended in the afternoon where everypony broke off to do their normal routine. The gang stayed behind to help Twilight clean up the remains around the library in preparation for Celestia arriving shortly. Luckily there wasn't that much to clean up, Pinkie Pie's parties somehow leave the smallest amount of messes behind them, despite having a lot of party streamers and balloons.

"So Princess Celestia wants to see us?" Aramis asked out loud, his head facing Twilight. She was busy finishing up cleaning the library when she heard the question.

"She's coming in exactly fifteen minutes." She said. Graham looked over and scratched his head.

"So...what's the princesses like in reality? Are they just like on T.V?" Graham wondered. Celestia, he knew by heart what she was like, but it was Princess Luna who he felt confused about. He remembered seeing Luna a few times, but never saw her really do much, except for her Nightmare Moon attack and when she tried to fit in with pony society after being so socially awkward.

"Princes Celestia's very fair and just. Just like any princess I'd say. She's kind, and sincere, But when it comes to anything serious, she speaks business first. She's a really nice mentor." Twilight looked at the room and how spotless it was.

While Twilight and Graham were talking about other things, Aramis turned to his right to see his favorite pony, Rainbow Dash. She sat by a nearby window doing nothing except absently staring out into space. He decided it was time to finally talk to her face to face, and really interact with her. In a way he felt that she was like him in some aspects or ways.

"Hey Rainbow Dash, you okay?" Aramis asked her, as he approached her.

"I'm fine I guess, just a little bored." she answered in a smooth tone, trying her hardest not to look at him.

"Well if you were fine, it wouldn't look like your fighting to not look at me like I'm some specimen from outer space." he joked with a chuckle.

She blushed brightly at how easily he caught her and decided to come clean. "I've just been wondering...ever since the day we met and all—How you told me I didn't know true pain." her expression molded into something more thoughtful, a bit insecure even. "It's made me so curious as to what happened to you that makes you act the way you do."

"I'm guessing you'd like to know a little bit about my background and just why I treat it like taboo huh?" he questioned her with a flat tone, his honey brown eyes locked with a far away look on them.

"Yeah...that's if you're fine with talking about it." she asked him awkwardly, in a manner almost similar to Fluttershy's timidness.

He took a seat across from her and sighed. "Well, there's a lot of factors and experiences in my life that have kind of left me br—"

The two were interrupted by a bright light, when out of the light stood the majestic Princess Celestia, Her hair and tail flowing on its own, showing grace. She looked upon her subjects and smiled a smile so sweetly that even the most violent of tempers would be calmed.

"Greetings, my little ponies." She said with a voice like an angel. Everyone only bowed to the magnificent specimen known as an alicorn as she giggled.

"There is no need for bowing." She gestured. Everyone stood back up, as if on command.

"I am here to speak to the 'humans' Graham and Aramis." She stared towards the two as they only looked upon her.

""Graham, Aramis, there is a reason why you were brought here; it was me that transported you here. Of course, you being dropped fifty feet was not the plan at all. That, my two friends, was only an accident." She confessed as the two looked at each other for a brief second. 

"I knew it!" Aramis shouted. "I knew you were a goddamn troll! No one believed me, but here is the living proof itself!" a maddening look flashed over his eyes, as he had finally proved that Princess Celestia was indeed trying to trick him.

Graham immediately slapped Aramis in the back of the head. "Aramis, for god's sakes, keep it down! She didn't mean it to actually happen, so leave it alone!" He looked upon his friend with extreme anger for his outburst.

"My ass she didn't mean to. You can't seriously believe that the "all powerful and omnipotent" Princess Celestia couldn't calculate the trajectory of the teleportation." he crossed his arms indignantly, refusing to believe otherwise.

"Ok smart one, then _you_ describe how to properly use a teleportation spell...oh wait, _I'm the only one who reads up on that shit!_" Graham sneered.

"Guess who _provided_ you with the books dumb-ass!"

"You provided only one book! I bought the other ones myself!"

Twilight's ears perked up at the discussion, immediately folding backwards to show fright. "Both of you please stop!" Twilight demanded, as she got between the two. "Graham, I know you were trying to defend the princess, but physical contact is something you shouldn't commit." She looked towards Aramis' direction. "You, Aramis, shouldn't accuse the princess of being a 'troll' or any other monster." Twilight's eyes look like they were ablaze with anger towards her new friends. Graham looked back at her, and frowned.

They both apologized to each other, and then Aramis turned to Celestia.

"Sorry..." He mumbled, it was loud enough for her ears to hear, luckily.

"It's alright, I understand you both are quick to anger." She brushed it off. She looked down at them once more. Her gaze fixed upon Graham. He picked up on this and was questioning in his mind. He knew he couldn't ask.

'_Why were we really brought here...?' _He thought in his mind, the princess only smiled.

"I was just getting to that." She answered. Graham gasped and looked back at her in shock.

"I-I didn't even ask anything! How did you-" was all he said as she giggled.

"I am the goddess of this realm, Graham. I can do many things, such as bring you here, and read your very thoughts. "

"R-right..." He said back. "I forgot you were powerful here..."

She only nodded and began to speak again. "I saw how horrible your lives were on your planet...and I wanted to extend my hoof for your friendship. Plus, you'll be needed for something soon...I believe it is you two, and a few others.."

"What was that last part?" Aramis asked. Celestia looked towards his direction.

"I cannot say for sure, but there is something important that might occur, and we might need you two, but if there is no need, I will not call for you. I also wish to know how your time here has been going so far."

"It's doin' great! The hospitality here is beyond wonderful." Graham said. He looked towards the direction of Twilight, who only smiled. "Everyo-everypony, has been kind, and been making sure we've had only the best that Ponyville can offer." He added. The other ponies with smiles on their faces, and a warm sensation in their hearts, knowing fully well they've done good.

She looked at Aramis and nodded to him expectantly.

"Our experience started off on a bit of a rocky start, but it's been smooth sailing since our first day. The past couple of days we've spent here have been pretty enjoyable and we've made some pretty good friends." he ruffled Rainbow Dash's hair, who laughed at the gesture.

The sun princess smiled warmly at the humans and the elements of harmony in understanding.

"Wonderful, just wonderful. I hope that the hospitality will only be better each day, and that you enjoy yourselves. Although, I wish to extend an invitation to you to stay a night in a guest room in my castle." She looked upon the man's face to see shock.

"C-caa-caa-castle? Your castle?" Graham managed to finally have the words formed into a sentence. Aramis looked over.

"What, is it that big a dea-"

"That big of a deal? Are you Crazy? That's like the highest honor!" Graham threw his arms over his head to express the overwhelming excitement he felt. Aramis looked at him as though he had two heads for that very moment.

"OK, Graham, I think we got the message after "the highest honor. " Aramis pointed out with a sarcastic, rolling his eyes before he sighed with relief from the Brony freak out Graham just had.

Celestia only smiled, as she looked upon her subjects. "If the six of you, including Spike, would like to join them, you're all very welcome to. Be aware though, that we may have to do some bedding accommodations if we're short on rooms. I have some business to discuss with the seven of you anyhow, first thing tomorrow morning."

The six nodded without even a thought, and very soon, the princess was on her way. She took her leave for the group to get ready. Before she left, she told Twilight that a chariot would be on its way to pick them up in roughly two hours; giving them just enough time to pack what they needed.

"Well, I don't have much to pack— actually neither of us do." Aramis mumbled as he looked at his clothes. "These are the only things we have to our name since the day we arrived here."

"Not necessarily, darling. I had enough time to quickly stitch up some clothing for another set of clothes. it'll have to do until I can finish a attire set that can last you a full week or so." Rarity smiled, as she walked out of the tree house. "I'll pack them up in my saddlebag so don't worry yourselves!" She proclaimed excitedly, as she trotted away to go pack. The others followed in her steps and went off to their own respective packing. The only people left were Twilight, Spike and the two humans.

"Well, I might as well pack myself something to study." and with that she excused herself to go pack her essentials.

Graham started chuckling to himself as he sat in a nearby recliner.

"What's got you all giddy?" Aramis asked, knowing full well the trip to Canterlot had nothing to do with it.

"Oh, nothing to be bothered with, Aramis." He smiled at his thoughts.

His friend had a pretty good idea what it was and decided to take an educated guess. "It's Twilight, isn't it?"

Graham looked up with another chuckle. "Maybe, maybe not." he replied with a sly grin.

"Alright so it is her. Might as well spill the details, or you may not hear the end of it from me." Aramis said with a bold tone. Graham only looked away in slight embarrassment, his cheeks lightly blushing over.

"Well, her and I were alone, and-" He was immediately cut off by Aramis' loud voice.

"You two had a heart to heart moment, right?" he guessed with a toothy grin.

"A little bit...she kinda wanted to know why I ran off, and I told her my life's story."

"You mean the very same story you never wanted anyone else to know but me?" He asked.

"Yeah, that's the one!" Graham smiled in the recliner. Aramis stared at his friend with disbelief.

"I'm actually quite surprised. I never really expected you to tell your entire life story to anyone beside me, much less your favorite pony..." Aramis only smirked, as he leaned over and whispered in his ear. "So, does this mean you two are gonna go out or what?"

Graham's face flushed redder than one of Sweet Apple Acre's sweetest apples. Aramis could only stifle his amusement for a brief moment before continuing.

"Look buddy, I know you've been ogling at Twilight the entire time we've been accompanying her; I've seen it with my own two eyes man. You might as well go after that flank." he encouraged, hoping to convince his friend to get it over with.

Graham looked at him, quickly turning away and stuttered. "I-it's not like that..."

"Like hell it is!" Aramis only laughed, as his friend had possibly the worst blush on his face.

"Oh yeah? Well, what about you and Rainbow Dash, huh?" he pointed out, trying to move the topic away from his current feelings for the purple mare.

"I won't deny I like her, but at least I have more courage to find out if she feels the same." Aramis replied with a snort, eyes crinkling in amusement.

"Are you telling me I'm a coward? And that I can't ask her out?" Graham's blush receded to show a look of annoyance.

Aramis had him right in his trap. He wanted Graham to be a man, and take some initiative by doing something about his little crush on Twilight, so he went with his final push.

"I'm saying you're too much of a pussy to go out and get that mare to lawfully be yours." He watched as Graham's anger got the best of him nearly instantly.

"I'll show you! I can get her, just you wait, we're gonna be happy together, just watch!" Graham was about to storm to Twilight's room, but was stopped by the very same pony with a bag full of supplies.

"Show us what?" Twilight stood with a confused look. Graham shrunk back a bit, shyness taking control of his actions.

"U-Uh..." Graham stammered. Aramis smirked a bit.

"What's the matter, Graham? Cat got your tongue?" Aramis mocked from behind him in a sing song voice that got Graham's attention.

Graham looked to the side, with a glare. "Gimme a minute, God dammit! Jeez, this is hard for me to say." Graham shouted in an outburst of anger before sighing shortly after.

"What's so hard to say, Graham? _Chicken_?" Aramis kept edging his friend on, hoping that he would slip up. He knew deep down Graham just needed a little push to get what he wanted.

"Telling Twilight that I have a crush on her is not that hard to say! Jesus, can you stop making fun of me about it!" It was too little too late for Graham to realize what he had just put out in the open. He slowly looked over in Twilight's direction to see a full blown blush spread across her face.

She stood there speechless for several long, silent moments."I-I..."

"I'm sorry Twilight! I know we just met and such but it's true and-" Graham's words seemed to fall upon deaf ears, as Twilight just turned and went back to her room. There was a long silence, a painful silence, until Graham finally broke it. "Thanks, you sure helped the situation." He sorrowfully told Aramis, as he sat back down on the recliner chair.

"Sorry Graham, I didn't expect her to react like that. I'll go talk to her." Aramis slowly walked in the direction of Twilight's room, but was stopped short by Graham's voice.

"No, let her be. It's better to give her time to think." Was all he managed to say to keep Aramis at bay. He didn't like it, but he listened to his friend's request, sitting down on a chair.

A few minutes passed, but to the both of them, seemed more like years, as Twilight came down with her luggage.

"Well, I guess we're all set to go then." the tan man said in a cheery voice, hoping to break the awkward silence that had formed.

"Why don't we go meet with the others." Were the only words that came from Twilight, her mind seemingly fixed on something other than the two men, as she absentmindedly walked out the door, not caring if they were following or not.

"I'm worried...I think I put myself out there too far..." Graham sullenly admitted.

His close friend patted him on the back in a comforting manner. "I'm sure it'll clear itself out by morning, let's all just calm down, and have a good time at the castle, alright?" He hoped that something would keep Graham's mind adrift from the event that transpired.

"Yeah...I guess I'll give her some space." Graham muttered weakly in response. The two started following the unicorn, as everyone gathered around near the town park. They all waited for about a few minutes passed by when the carriage arrived, lead by a Pegasus in golden armor.

"Here's our ride!" Pinkie Pie excitedly exclaimed as the soldier came to a halt. The group lumped their baggage in the back, as they sat together inside. Once they were ready, they were lifted from the ground, into the air. Aramis seemed to be the most fascinated by this experience, as he poked his head out to view the world below.

"Man, I wish I could fly, the ponies look like little bugs from up here!" He blurted out with a warm laugh, as he took in every sight he could find, almost as if he was making a game out of it.

"You know who would like this? Cammy. The guy's always been about flying." Graham chuckled. He looked from his own side as the mares looked at them with confusion.

"Are you telling me that your kind cannot fly?" Rarity asked towards no direct name. Graham took the time to put his head back into the carriage to look at her before answering.

"Well we can, just not like Pegasi. We use these things called 'aeroplanes' that travel an amazing distance within a short amount of time." The others looked in interest.

"So how fast are we talkin' about?" Rainbow Dash decided to ask her own. She figured these things weren't nearly as fast as her, especially after a sonic rainboom.

"The fastest plane built in our world is capable of reaching well over seven thousand miles per hour or Mach nine point six speeds for flying junkies." Aramis pointed out factually, as he brought his head back inside from the cold whipping air. Rainbow's eyes showed complete awe and a hint of doubt.

"No bucking way; that fast?" Aramis looked at her reaction with an amused smirk.

"Oh yeah, fastest we've ever gotten." The smirk was accompanied by a chuckle as Rainbow started blurting out. While she and the others were chatting away, Graham seemed more focused on the mare he confessed his feelings to. He wondered to himself if she really did care for him, despite listening to his stories.

About twenty minutes passed by as the castle and the city of canterlot came into view. The passengers inside the carriage grew excited as they saw the bustling town of uptight folk.

"First thing when I get to the castle, is getting one of those delicious gems at the jewelers." Spike piped up as his mouth began to water at the mere thought of a topaz within his grasp.

The carriage stopped near the entrance to the castle, the two men staring at it's colossal size.

"It wasn't as big as this on the show!" Graham laughed as he grew excited. Aramis already knew where this was going.

"Brony freak out in five...four...three-" He was once more cut short as Graham ran up ahead of the others, and speeding his way inside.

"He seems really excited fer Princess Celestia's lil' meetin'." Applejack gave a quick chuckle as the tan-skinned man only shook his head.

"It's the places he's always wanted to visit. Different landmarks, and locations, it's enough to drive me to drink. Too bad I'm not old enough." Aramis explained with minor annoyance.

Fluttershy, being her usual self, only stayed from the group conversations, grabbing her own things, along with Spike. The others did the same as they walked towards the Throne room, where Graham ran into, just to meet the two princesses in their chairs of power.

"...and so, with one final punch, I knocked that other guy right offa his feet!" Graham was explaining as he was uppercutting the air. The two royal sisters only looked in amazement.

"Don't tell me you're telling them that one time we got jumped!" Aramis cried out towards his friend.

"Why yes I am!" Graham grinned as the other finally caught up. They all looked upon the two rulers. Twilight smiled and bowed, as did the rest.

"Hello, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna." She greeted as she got up from her bow; the others doing the same.

"Good day to you, my faithful student." Princess Celestia she returned with a soft voice.

The younger of the two sisters looked upon Twilight. "Greetings, one called Twilight." She said with a not-so-high Canterlot voice, she has been working hard to use her voice in a more quiet tone, so that she would not accidentally scare off anypony she wished to speak to. Ever since her return, things have been really looking up for her, she brought the moon up into the skies once more, she was given the proper care she deserved around the castle, and best of all, ponies started acknowledging her as a princess, not Nightmare Moon, as what they used to describe her more wicked self.

Twilight greeted her as the sister of the sun spoke.

"We have some bedding made for you down the hall. There was some problems getting enough beds, so I wish to address, that some of you will be sleeping together tonight." She announced. They didn't seem to mind, until she added more to her sentence.

"I have a arrangement for the bedding. Graham and Twilight Sparkle, you shall both bunk together, as will Aramis and Rainbow Dash." Graham looked at Twilight, without moving his head. He thought to himself that this felt like both a good and a bad idea. He didn't want to interrupt the alicorn, seeming as her wishes would have to be granted, so he said nothing as they all went towards their guest rooms. Graham got next to Aramis as they walked down the halls.

"Something tells me Celestia did this on purpose..." Graham whispered as Aramis only smiled.

"Without a doubt, she probably did do this on purpose. Look at the bright side, this is your chance to make your move, and find out what's up with Twilight. So don't be scared Graham Cracker." He said in a calm, supportive tone. The big man only smiled back, a hint of nervousness in the back of his mind at the possibilities of how it could turn out.

Everypony made their way towards their respective rooms. Graham followed Twilight into what seemed like a five star hotel room. He gazed at everything; the curtains, the bathroom they had for themselves, and the bed, That bed was possibly the greatest thing about the room. He walked over to it to feel the blanket, and it felt as though it was made of the finest silk. He carefully laid his body down on it to feel instant relaxation. He looked to his left to see Twilight unpacking her things, not even giving a glance in his general direction.

"Twilight. Can we talk...?" Graham weakly pleaded. She looked over to him, and sighed.

"Please...I need some time to think, alright? It's nothing against you...It's just...It was so sudden."

Graham only sighed as he frowned. "Alright...if that's what you want..." He rolled over to one side of the bed as Twilight jumped up with a book. Both of them got comfortable as she started reading. He wanted to say something, but felt as though the timing was inappropriate. He soon fell asleep with his own troubled thoughts.

Meanwhile in the room next door, Aramis and Rainbow Dash were doing things amongst themselves. Aramis, quietly ate a chocolate bar he found in his pocket, and Rainbow Dash, calmly stretched her muscles to loosen them from any stress that may have been put on from her usual morning routine.

"You know Rainbow, I feel bad for Graham and its my fault things are a bit strained between him and Twilight." The tan man felt guilty and he couldn't help but feel that way as he sadly stared at the ceiling.

"Ah come on, it can't be that bad." Rainbow Dash said in a attempt to calm him down.

"But I edged him into confessing. I didn't want it to be like this, I thought that she was the same way...isn't she?" He questioned as the cyan pegasus shrugged.

"Beats the hay outta me. I wouldn't know about Twilight's feelings. She hardly comes out with them to us, and we're her best friends! I say give her time. She might open up later." She said as she continued her stretches. She finished them up as she walked over to him. She plopped herself down on a chair and stared right at him.

"So, tell me more about where you guys used to live, planet Dirtville." Aramis chuckled a how the pegasus botchered his home planet name.

"It's called Earth, and really, it's a terrible place. All I can say is, it's filled with the most heinous, vile, most cruel people ever to walk it's surface. Heck, Graham told me quite the story once. Something about a girl ruining his life or some shit." He said, as he took the last bite out of his chocolate bar, and crumpled the wrapper into his pocket. The rainbow maned pony tilted her head.

"Were they all discorded or something?" Aramis raised an eyebrow at her question.

"No, they were always like this, far as I am concerned. Granted, there are many good humans there, but not many. Graham is one of them. He's like my bro, always chillin' and always there for me when I need it."

"Sounds like my friends. We're always doin' stuff, and we always stick together when we need to." Rainbow Dash said comparing each other's friends. "And now you two are part of that group." She smiled, resting a hoof on the table. "And we would take a buck in the kisser for ya, and I hope you're the same way." She smiled to be greeted by his own smile.

"Thanks, Rainbow, that was nice to hear."

"Anytime, Aramis."

The two yawned at the same time, and decided it was time to rest. The princesses would need them for the meeting early, and they didn't want to stay up chatting. Both of them lying in the bed, they quickly were off to dreamland...

**Author's Notes**

**Doomlord1234: My Dear fans, I hope you're enjoying yourselves, because from here on out, things are going to be a turn for more exciting events, and boy do I have plans for you! As you can clearly see, Graham and Twilight are really stuck. Graham confesses his little crush on her, but it seems as though Twilight doesn't really meet his eye...or does she? We can only read on as we post more chapters for your ever-so-hungry eyes. Anyways, My little Bronies and Pegasisters, hope you all have a good day. Until next time...**

**Henry Anthony Courtler: Hello everypony! things are getting pretty intense here with the situation between Graham and Twilight along with Aramis' guilt. Let's hope things work out between the two of them. See ya next chapter.**

**till next time my little bronies and pegasisters,**

_**Keep on Rockin'~**_


	7. Sleepless Night

**Here's part two of our gift! Enjoy!**

**Chapter 7: Sleepless Night**

Graham found himself alone. He was in a room that seemed to be completely engulfed in a never ending darkness. He couldn't see even five feet in front of him. What he _could _see, however, was a long hallway. He couldn't see too far down it, but he knew it was there. He started to walk, the fear of the unknown slowly consuming his fragile mind. As he walked, he felt the sudden chilly air sweep over him. It sent a shiver down his spine as he continued on with his little walk into the hallway.

He felt for a wall; the feeling of brick at his fingertips. He felt a bit more at ease from the sense of security that came with the contact of a surface; _any_ surface. He suddenly heard his name in the distance, and tried to find the source of it. It came from in front of him, as he soon felt fright creep back into his head, but the urge of finding out who was calling him was stronger.

He walked for what seemed like hours to him until he came across an empty room, at the bottom of some stairs he was on top of. He looked down them to see something staring right back at him. Two bright orbs simply floating in the blackness. He almost didn't want to get any closer, but he forced his legs that seemed frozen in place to keep moving. He neared them as they disappeared. A sense of relief, mixed with fear of where it hid still in mind.

He moved towards the middle, and looked around. He suddenly saw what appeared to be a burning town in front of him...He peered closer...to see Ponyville.

"This can't be right..." He said out loud as he walked towards it, to have it vanish right before his eyes. Was that really Ponyville burning? Why was it burning?

He couldn't help but have that same question run through his mind for what seemed like hours. His mind soon cleared as he saw what appeared to be a dim lighting down the hall, past the room he was in. He quickly held his hands out so that he could find the nearest wall. When he was sure he found one, he headed straight towards it, only to be stopped by a noise.

It was a low growl, and it was definitely close. He looked behind him, and then back to see what appeared to be a rotting pink corpse of a pony that was very familiar to him.

"P-Pinkie...?" Was all he said as she lunged at him like a ravaged animal, he screamed as he knocked her off, taking no glance back as he bolted towards the lighting, hoping for it to be an exit. What else could it be?

He found himself near the light, but soon regretted his decision as he was face to face with red glowing eyes. the light from them gave off what they were attached to; the face of a dragon...

Its color seemed the darkest of black. If it weren't for it's eyes glowing, this creature could practically be invisible. It had upon it fins on as its ears, a golden nose ring, and big pointy horn adjourning its head, with spines just as similar trailing down its head towards his neck, until the rest of his neck down was covered by the shadows. It over-towered him as it only bellowed a laugh.

"Equestria shall be purged..."

As it finished its sentence, a few more faces he recognized as the mane six crowded his space. He looked at one specific pony with fear.

"Twilight..." He choked out his words as they pounced upon him; the pain of flesh being torn away was unbearable; His screams echoing down the hallowed halls...

He soon felt a shake as he was being torn apart. "Wake up..."

It took a few minute but found himself sitting up with Twilight staring at him with a shocked and scared facial expression.

"What happened? I thought you were screaming in pain!" She said, as she hugged him. The big fellow sighed a bit as he returned the hug.

"I saw this strange vision of a burning Ponyville, and you guys as some form of...zombies..." He shivered at the thought; the last thing he really saw was Twilight. Her red eyes like that dragon he saw first.

"That wasn't the only thing I saw..." He added as she looked up at him. "I saw this big dragon...or at least its head..." He started explaining what detail he could make out. The nose ring, the teeth, scales, everything he saw, especially the eyes of glowing red.

"I should've never ignored you...This is my fault..." Twilight looked down while she sat in her guilt. Graham brought her eyes to stare at him with a pull at her chin.

"It wasn't you, really it wasn't. I just had a bad dream. That's all! You didn't do anything to cause it, nopony did." He reassured as she smiled innocently.

Suddenly, a knock was heard with a guard at the door. They both looked at each other as the guard stated his purpose for interrupting.

"The Princesses would like to see everyone in the throne room immediately."

As soon as the order was known, the pegasus in gold armor left them to get out of bed. Everypony was given the same message, as they all met each other in the halls. Nopony said a word to anypony as they all quietly made their way towards the Throne. Princess Celestia looking as majestic as ever while her younger sister sat in a chair quite like her own, only fitting to a design reminiscent of the beautiful nights she brought upon Equestria daily.

"It's not even two in the morning yet!" Aramis irritatedly muttered out loud. Celestia didn't even budge from his outburst.

"I called this meeting early, because my guard told me of a nightmare one of you had. One about Ponyville." The other ponies only looked towards Graham. He felt completely uncomfortable, but admitted it.

"It wasn't just that, but a vision of Ponyville under fire or something, and I saw all of you as some flesh eating zombies!" He pointed at each of them. Pinkie Pie only giggled.

"That's silly, everypony knows that we're not zombies! I eat candy, not brains!" The pink earth pony chortled in laughter at the absurdity of his statement.

Graham rolled his eyes as he turned towards the Princesses once more. "That wasn't the end part. Before I saw them, I saw this big dragon with a nose ring, black scales, and glowing red eyes! And he laughed really loud!" He said as he shivered. "All it said was 'Equestria was gonna be purged' or something like that..."

Luna's eyes widened as she turned toward her older sibling. "Sister, do you think that he could return?" Celestia turned towards her sister, the look of worry shown upon her face. "I'm afraid so...Just like Discord, he might have found a break in the magic that held him prisoner-" She was cut off by Graham's sudden retort.

"Who are you talking about, and why are you all so worked up over some stupid dream?" He snorted as the two alicorns whispered to one another. Luna rose onto her hooves and stared directly at the human.

"Long ago, before Equestria was made, even before this planet was made, a god, known to us as Uriah, looked upon the vastness of space, and created this world. Uriah looked to us, like a White Dragon, with eyes a shining blue. He created all sorts of intelligent life, including dragons, Draconequus, and the different forms of pony, even the long since forgotten sea ponies. He gave life to all sorts of creatures, but the most prized creation he enjoyed, were the alicorns..." She said in a serious tone. The others sat down to listen, while Graham and Aramis only stood.

"I thought this whole deal was made by Hasbro?" Aramis said into Graham's ear.

"Remember, this place is real? Hasbro only gave us a good show, nopony would ever really think this place really existed..." He answered. His friend only looked back at Luna as she continued.

"The Alicorns were his favorite creation because we are the mixture of all three living races: Earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns. We were granted life, as well as rule over the kingdom we all helped to create under his skies."

"So you ended up being lucky, and were given royal positions?" Aramis questioned. Celestia only raised a hoof to signify she wasn't finished.

"When we created the first towns, we created a castle for ourselves, somewhere where the everfree forest now stands...That castle was in tribute to the almighty god...as well as hold our dearest treasure...the Elements of Harmony. The elements were a symbol of our strength, but there was more to them...they held the power to create magic in our world..."

"So the elements were used to give you the powers of magic...Hasbro never mentioned that..." Aramis mentioned towards his friend. Celestia only tilted her head.

"Who is this Hasbro you speak of Aramis?" She asked. Aramis only scratched the back of his head, slightly embarrassed that he was heard.

"Um, nothing really important." He said, hoping they wouldn't go further into questioning. Luckily, they made no further comment about his pondering and went onward with their story.

"As other races became known, foundations were formed, and the alicorns were known as royalty. we ruled these lands for centuries. One day, just as we finally had gotten settled down, he brought forth wicked curses upon us! He brought terrible storms! Diseases! Even the curse of mortal life upon the creatures of Equestria!" She yelled with some anger in her voice. Celestia hushed her sister as she sat back down.

"Uriah created these things, but we have no idea why. The alicorns questioned his plans, but he only refused to talk. We did the only thing we could do...we turned to the elements."

"So what did you do with them Elements?" Spike piped up. Celestia looked towards the young dragon.

"We learned how to wield them as a weapon against our foe, thanks to a certain draconequus..." Luna muttered.

"You mean Discord? I thought he was around just to cause chaos and such? And isn't he immortal like you?" Aramis pointed out, as the others started whispering to each other, asking the same thing.

"Discord wasn't as chaotic as he is nowadays, his chaos was only small pranks that made even me laugh." Celestia admitted with a smile. "He was our closest friend during these times, and him and I once had a special bond..." Luna suddenly looked towards her older sister with a shocked face.

"I was right all along?" She asked. Celestia only sighed and nodded.

"It was long ago, and him and I were young at the time..."

"Could we get on with the story already? Sorry to be so frank, but we might as well finish it." Aramis said blankly. The two only nodded as they continued.

"Uriah was trying to dismantle what we created, and we found a way to use them. The alicorns waged a war that changed the face of Equestria forever, against our former god. The battle was won in our favor, but our race, was diminished. My sister and I are the last known alicorns to exist, not weighed down by death. We can only watch as the evil Uriah brought is still working, even after all those years ago..."

"That's a nice story, but one question...What does all that have to do with me and my stupid dream?" Graham shouted, his patience wearing thin, Celestia only looked towards him.

"We believe since we are no longer truly connected with the elements, Uriah might return. He might have entered your mind while you were most vulnerable to give you a hint on what may be to come...or rather, what could happen if we don't imprison him once again. If we fail upon ridding Equestria of him, he could very well destroy everything we've helped work for, and end all life as we know it."

"So...what are we here for?" Graham asked out of nowhere. The two princesses looked at them.

"Originally, you were here to see if humans were really ready to be able to interact with pony kind once more..."

"Once more?" Aramis tilted his head. Graham leaned towards him and whispered again.

"Remember the older series? Humans were able to interact with the ponies a while back...I think that's what they're talking about..." Graham answered as he turned back.

"Yes, and so far, you are making our choice feel like a good one. For now, this meeting is adjourned." Celestia ordered as everypony cleared the room to go back to bed. As they left, Celestia muttered.

"Graham and Aramis have a bigger purpose than they know...and they shall find out in due time." Luna nodded upon hearing this as the Spike was the last one out, closing the door behind him.

"So I really have a purpose then to be here? Am I some ambassador for the humans?" Graham asked Twilight as they reached their destination.

"I suppose so. I mean, I don't see any other way of putting it." Twilight put it out blandly. They soon reached for the covers as both laid still. neither one feeling tired now that they were abruptly woken up by recent events. Twilight turned her body to look at Graham.

"So..you really do like me, huh?" She suddenly asked him. Graham opened his eyes to stare at her, a blush threatening to creep on his face.

"Well, yes...actually..." he quietly spoke. Twilight only smiled and giggled. "Well, you're a very nice human, so...I just want to get to know you a bit more first..." Graham understood what she meant and nodded.

"Alright. We'll talk some more in the morning then." He said with a yawn. He closed his eyes as Twilight disappeared from his vision. He drifted to sleep as well as the purple mare. They deserved a good night sleep.

Over in another room, Rainbow Dash and Aramis found themselves without sleep either.

"I can't even get a wink of sleep after that whole talk." Dash complained while shoving her pillow on top of her face in frustration.

"Same here. That was a tough pill to swallow if you ask me." Aramis said with a blank expression as he stared at the ceiling mindlessly.

"Got any ideas on how to fall asleep?" the pegasus asked tiredly.

The human contemplated until a smirk came over his features. "I got one..." he suggested quietly, the same devilish smirk clear on his face.

"And that would be?" she asked with a curious tilt of her head.

"This!" he shouted playfully as he jumped on the pegsaus and started tickling her sides.

She laughed heartedly as she tried to get away, but he seemed to hold an iron grip on her and would't let go. They rolled over one another several times until an idea popped in Rainbow Dash's mind that made her smirk competitively at him.

With a strong flap of her wings she managed to shake him off for the moment or so she thought until he came crashing on top of her, sending both of them to the floor. The two were stuck in a pile of limb until they carefully unraveled themselves only to bump into another surprise— each other's lips.

The two held the kiss; whether it was from shock or bliss neither knew, but what they did know was that it was oddly enjoyable.

Rainbow Dash cut the kiss early. "I-I think we should be getting to bed..." She said nervously. She enjoyed it, but at the same time, felt wrong about it in some way she couldn't make out. Aramis felt a bit disappointed, but at the same time felt a bit unsure of himself so he understood why she cut it a bit short.

Both hopped up on the bed again, hoping to get a good night's sleep out of what transpired. Both wished each other a good sleep, and were off to their own dream lands.

**Author's notes:**

**Doomlord: Hello everypony! I just wanted to apologize for the brief delay on the chapter posting. Long story short, someone fell down some stairs, and were re-cooperating. Spoiler alert: it was me. Don't wanna get into it, but it was a nasty fall. Hit my head pretty hard too. But now I'm back, and wish to let you all know, It won't happen again.**

**Henry: Hey there everypony, a new chapter for all you awesome faithful readers that have patiently been waiting. I also want to apologize for the somewhat long delay especially after Graham's incident. Since this chapter was more of bonding chapter of sorts, it isn't as long, but don't fear as the next chapter will be as long as prior chapters and will have a lot more going on.**


	8. A Change of Pace

**Chapter 8: A Change of Pace**

The morning sun slowly rose over the mythical land of Equestria, as the sun shone throughout the windows in the castle; Its rays hitting the faces of all who were still asleep.

Graham woke up with the glare in his eyes as he sat up. Looking over to his side, He saw Twilight stir from her sleep as well. With a smile, he only watched as the pony looked up, copying the same facial feature.

"Hey there, sleepy head." Graham said softly, Twilight nuzzled into Graham, still a little groggy.

"mmn. Morning..." Was all she said as Graham chuckled lightly. He let her just lay there, enjoying the warmth of her body leaning into his side. She stayed that way for several minutes until she slowly hopped off the bed into the sunlight. Her body reflexively shivered a bit as the warmth hit her coat. Graham could only watch her from his sitting position. Suddenly the door opened with a big slam to the wall as Pinkie pie walked right in, making the two jump in surprise.

"Gooood morning!" Pinkie shouted with a huge, day shining smile, "I brought breakfast!" right after this words she presented a tray of candy and cupcakes, all but one healthy meal for a breakfast.

"Jeez, Pinkie. Gimme some warning next time you do that!" Graham shouted between pants, as he tried to calm down from the fright he felt.

"Sorry, Graham, I just wanted to wish you a happy morning!" She said as she bounced and giggled. She closed the door behind her on her way out, leaving the sweets for them to enjoy.

"How can a pony like her have so much energy?" He quickly slapped his face with his palm to realize it was a needless question. "Right, because she's pinkie."

Twilight only laughed as she picked up a piece of candy from the table. "You'll get used to that. She's just trying to be nice."

"I know she is, but Jesus H. Christ it's too early in the morning!" Twilight tilted her head.

"Who's that?" Twilight asked out loud as Graham looked at her.

"Ehhh...No one important. He's supposed to my people's god's son. Those people are called "Christians." He sighed. "And I'm not one of them. I'm what's called an "Atheist".

"What are those things? Are they some different form of human?" Twilight only tilted her head.

"They're people who think logically, people who do not believe in a god, or that kinda stuff. That sort of stuff gets in the way of your life. I lost so many friends back when I was still in school because someone told me to go read the "Bible" or "Become a Christian and save your soul from the devil or some shit."

"It sounds like you didn't really enjoy that at all," Twilight's ears folded back as Graham lied back down.

He took a deep breath before he continued, "It's not that, it's just...Religion in my view is unnecessary. A lot of people on our home planet follow some obscure religion because they lack faith in themselves and are incapable to pull through tough times on their own or with help from friends and family. So instead of becoming self-sufficient they become reliant on some religious figure head no one's ever seen." Graham said as he sighed again. Twilight's ears folded again as she walked up and nudged him.

"Graham, everypony has an opinion on things, some ponies once believed Discord was our true ruler, someponies still do! But we only try to keep things like that to ourselves so as to not hurt their feelings, or offend them."

Graham opened an eye to look at her, "If only more people on my home planet were more like you, Twilight. The problem I have with all religions back home, was that people didn't know how to stop trying to convert me, and take no for an answer! All they did was try to shove their beliefs down other people's throats like arrogant pricks!" Graham sat up during his outburst waving his arms in the air.

Twilight cringed as he held his mouth. "I'm sorry, Twilight, but sometimes I get upset over the whole religion thing...It's not that I hate religion...it's the people who follow it. I just wish that they would stop trying to convert others and just enjoy themselves for once."

Twilight nodded. "I understand, Graham. It's really okay. We won't talk about it..." Twilight nuzzled him to reassure she would keep her word on the matter. Graham hugged her head gently and then let go to take a cupcake from the table.

As he ate his fill, he looked over to see Twilight looking at him in slight disbelief. "What's wrong?" He asked her, eating what was left of the food on the table.

"I'm just surprised you could eat all of that so quickly! Do other humans eat that quickly? Or that much?" Graham could only chuckle, as he turned around in the chair he was sitting in. Twilight looked at him curiously.

"Most people that I know of can't really eat as fast or as much as I can—well except maybe Aramis, but that's because he's been around me for so long. You see, there's a entire world of different kind of eaters. Since we're Omnivores, we eat all kind of things, from fish, meats, leafy greens, and even artificial foods. Some humans prefer greens over everything else; those people are called vegetarians..." He went on about all kinds of different eaters, including the 'meat and potatoes' kinda guys, the junk food eaters, and health nuts, who only eat what they believed to be organic.

"...As for the fast eating? Well, I think everyone has their speeds, and frankly, I shouldn't be eating as fast as I did just now. Don't wanna put on any more weight than I have to, ya' know." He said with a light laugh, smacking his gut to get his point across. Twilight looked as he performed his action and only looked at him in concern.

"Graham, I can tell you're pretty depressed about your weight...How much do you weigh?" Graham blinked at her accusation, but he knew deep down he was a little upset about his lack of restraint over food, and how he didn't exercise much, even back at home.

"Well, um...about two-hundred and eighty-five pounds..." He practically whispered his words, but her keen sense of hearing able to pick them up just fine.

"I'm guessing that's not a good support you're supposed to have...how much are your kind supposed to weigh?" Her question stung him, because of the fact that he was nowhere near the target weight.

"About one hundred and twenty five to two hundred pounds..." He silently said as Twilight only frowned at him.

"Graham...are you really unhappy with your weight? I mean, you could exercise, possibly eat healthier." Graham looked at her and sighed once more.

"I know I could, but...I don't know what's stopping me! I know I can do it, but..."

"Is it that you don't have any inspiration?"

He looked at her blankly. Was it really that simple? He thought for a moment and looked back at her.

"I guess so, I mean I never really had any inspiration before...I know Aramis tried doing it once, but he's not the greatest coach, you know?" He chuckled at his own joke. Twilight could only smile as she sat down.

"I know that I may not be the most athletic pony around...but if you wanted me to accompany you on a walk around ponyville, I'd be happy to go along!" She looked at his eyes as they told her of his happiness at her words. His face soon had a smile as he hugged his favorite pony.

"I would love that very much, Twilight."

After about a few moments, he let go and looked at the outside world through the window, a cloudless blue sky filled the beautiful magical land. He looked at the vista for several moments before he felt a nudge at his side. He smiled warmly at Twilight and moved over a bit to give her room, lazily draping an arm around her neck. They stood there for what could have felt to be a peaceful eternity, until a loud knock interrupted their comfortable silence.

"Princess Celestia has asked me to round you all up and take you to the court grounds where you will be flown back to Ponyville by chariot ride." The guard stated formally, patiently waiting for a response from the two friends.

"Okay, we'll get the rest of the group and be right on our way!" Twilight shouted back to the guard.

"Alright, but don't take too long."

"We won't!" and with that Twilight and Graham made their guest bed and walked out into the hall.

They went around knocking door to door, and patiently waited for their friends to regroup. Most of them came out of their rooms, looking well rested and relaxed. Two particular friends had yet to make haste to catch up with the rest of the group as they were busy conversing.

"About last night...I'm sorry Rainbow-" Aramis began in an awkward tone.

"You don't have to apologize for anything! It was a...different kind of experience and it was just an accident. It's not like you were trying to set me up or something right?" Rainbow Dash said in a laid back manner.

A mischievous grin overcame his features, "You sure that wasn't 'just' a set up _Dashie_." he teased with a wiggle of his eyebrows, emphasizing her nickname in a slight husky voice.

"Aramis!" the mare whined, a deep red blush spreading across her face that would have made anypony think she had drunk hot sauce.

"You left yourself open to that one!" Aramis said, a deep laugh carrying out from his chest. He felt proud of his pranking skills till a pillow slammed into the side of his face, knocking him clean off his feet to the ground.

"Okay, maybe I deserved that." the human muttered in a daze as he shakily got back on his feet.

An irritated knock echoed out from the door.

"Hurry up you two! The guards are waiting for us in the courtyard and I rather get a chariot ride than walk back to Ponyville if you don't mind!" Graham shouted, though his face betrayed his voice; a wide grin stretched across his face.

"Jeez Graham, will you fucking cool it? _Can't have a good time when you're anywhere near him...seriously_." Aramis muttered the last bit as he helped Rainbow Dash fix the bed and promptly joined the rest of them.

"Happy?" the human groaned at his friend.

"Very much." Graham answered with a smirk.

"_asshole_." he muttered quietly before coughing into his elbow,"Can we go now?" Aramis asked impatiently.

Graham nodded, and with that; the group diligently walked through the castle halls until they reached the court yard where both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna waited for the group, a chariot ready to take them back to Ponyville.

"Good morning everypony. It was very nice having your company here my little ponies and humans." Celestia warmly greeted.

"It was certainly more...dynamic than most of the company that visits us here at the castle." Luna commented, a smirk pulling at her lips.

"The pleasure is all ours Princesses." Aramis said in a posh voice, taking a deep bow before rising up, a small smirk on display. Both of the princesses laughed at his humor.

Graham thought about something about the meeting, that he wanted to bring up, and walked up to them calmly, "Just a quick question...It's about Discord." Both of them looked down at him, slight concern forming in their minds, but nonetheless, they wished to answer his question as best as they could.

"Of course, what is it you wish to know?" Celestia replied back. The man tapped his chin, thinking of a good way to summarize his question.

"I'm wondering what happened to Discord after the fall of Uriah at the time, I mean, you said he helped you figure out the Elements of Harmony, so why did he turn bad?"

The princesses only frowned a bit. Luna pipped up after a brief moment, "When we were finally done with Uriah, we were simply too weak after the battle."

"Well, what happened?"

"Due to the power we used to change everything we could back to normal, we were too weak to perform any more tasks. Discord told us that while we rested, he would help, since he shared our immortality, being a spirit that is above the mortal laws. He let us rest, and was trustworthy at the time...but something was off..."

Graham scratched at his head. "_Off_? That's a little vague. How long did he even rule for anyhow?"

"He lasted for five hundred years, and that was enough to cause all of Equestria to be blanketed under his chaos. We were given no other choice. There was nopony fit enough to do our responsibilities, and back then, we gave ourselves the burden of carrying the sun and the moon into the skies. During this time of his rule, he told us that he would carry the moon and the sun for us...so he did. Only thing was he made it so that they changed every two minutes. The Ground was colored in checkered patterns, the clouds were cotton candy, rain was chocolate milk, the list goes on!" Luna panted a little with all the back-story she told of. Graham looked down, thinking some more.

"So how did you get back your thrones?"

Celestia took over the story for her sister, allowing her to recuperate. "When five hundred years past, we were able to regain all of our strength. When we saw all of this, we were struck with both awe and shock at all the damage he caused. We confronted him about this, and all he said was 'I wanted to make things interesting, after all I can do as I please in the throne', and I knew he let power go to his head. Although when we were younger he wouldn't let things like this get out of hand. But we had no choice. He wouldn't step down, and we had to punish him..."

"By turning him into stone? Princess, I know sometimes others can be hard to talk to, and communicate with, but _STONE_? Wasn't there some other way? You couldn't use the elements to...I don't know, take his power away? That's a little harsh in my tastes. I mean I'm sure that he's a reasonable...whatever he is..."

"Draconequus. He's a Draconequus." Twilight answered.

"Right, thank you, Twilight." He smiled at her, "But as I said before, He's reasonable, I bet. So why not talk with him over it? I don't think he really needs to be put in stone, even after what he did, he helped you beat Uriah, and that deserves some remorse."

Everypony stared at him with disdain clear on their faces. Twilight walked up to him and kept staring. She soon spoke.

"He tried undoing the balance of Equestria, turned my friends into complete opposites of themselves, and caused chaos everywhere. That all on its own is enough."

"Twilight, I know you don't necessarily care for him, but every single person, pony, or any creature deserves a chance at redemption. Sure he caused chaos twice, but that's only because you guys didn't talk with him. You acted, and by this, you turned him into stone, without so much as a chance for an explanation. You used the Elements as a weapon to rid yourselves of a problem without so much as a second thought... You simply denied him of a fair trial. That is one of the many things my own people have done to each other...and that is something that is unforgivable and a violation of all rights by themselves."

Those words struck them harder than anything they've ever felt before. It was like venom to their ears...but at the same time, it was all called for. All of them felt guilty for their previous actions, with turning him to stone, accusing him of harming other ponies, and all sorts of things. Celestia gathered the strength to speak once more.

"I...I never thought of it that way..." She was showing signs of her guilt. She only stared at him and then looked back down. "Perhaps...we were too quick to judge Discord." She looked back at the two humans and spoke in a more serious tone. "When you return to Canterlot, I want you to join me...I have a personal wrong to correct." Celestia said in a serious tone, eyes burning in determination in righting a wrong that made her loose a close friend.

Graham merely nodded his head in understanding and gave a polite bow before walking past her, his friends repeating the gesture on their way to the chariot. The princesses said their goodbyes with the group, sending them off in the chariot that had been prepared for them. 

The chariot ride back to Ponyville was comfortably quiet, and everypony found something entertaining to do. Graham and Twilight quietly talked in hushed whispers so as to not bother the rest of their friends. Pinkie Pie played 'I spy' with Spike and Rarity, who were beginning to get frustrated at how easily the party mare repeatedly stumped them at the game. Applejack meanwhile, stared at the window with Fluttershy who would sometimes talk about a favorite species of plant or beautiful landmark that peppered the landscape they traveled over. To the amusement of everyone else though, it turned out Dash wasn't the only one who easily fell asleep on chariot rides, as many found it cute to see her recline her head on Aramis' shoulder as they both quietly slept; her mane draped over the front of his torso.

An hour had passed by when the chariot set down in front of Ponyville. Everyone got off in a hurry, while Aramis took a few moments getting off to wake Rainbow Dash up from her little nap. The Chariot flew off, and each of the ponies went back to their places to start their duties.

Twilight and Spike were the only one that didn't leave the two men behind as they shuffled towards her tree home. After getting inside, they were greeted by Gypsy, who ran around them, with her tail wagging a million miles an hour. After Graham got her to calm down, he sat in the nearest chair he could find.

Twilight walked over, plopping herself down on the floor. Spike only took the time to go upstairs into the bedroom for some sleep. She looked up at Graham and started to speak. "So what is it like being...well, human?" Graham looked down at her, obviously confused about why she was so interested. He didn't want to question her, so he went about with an answer.

"Being human? Well, there's nothing really anything interesting about being human. I mean, we got hands." He said as he flexed his fingers, showing them in front of her as he did so. She kept staring, as if entranced by them. He quickly pulled them back as he spoke again, "We're able to build things, such as buildings, and weapons."

"Weapons? Why would you need any of those?" She asked immediately as the word was dropped. Graham only sighed.

"Well, to put it frankly? Kill things. Kill animals for food, defend ourselves from dangerous animals, and even kill other humans." She only gasped in horror at his answer, her ears flopping down upon her head.

"Why...Why would you kill others of your kind? Have you...killed anypony?" He felt terrible about bringing up the whole "Weapons" thing, so he assured her that he had _ never_ killed anyone before. She calmed down after a minute and looked up once more. She figured that she walked right into it, since he was a whole other species, not found on Equestria's lands at all. She wanted to learn a bit about his kind, and that's what she was gonna do. Graham continued after a quick yawn and a scratch on his belly.

"We're able to walk on two legs, as you can see, and along with that, we have toes." He pulled off his left shoe and sock to show her what lied inside them: five toes that he wiggled to show her that they weren't just a set of appendages. She looked at them and smiled. "You humans are so interesting. So many things about you that make me wanna learn more. But one thing, what's on the inside? Do you have the same organs as we do?"

Graham scratched at his head. He really didn't know if pony anatomy would be the same. He remembered somewhere that horse anatomy is very similar, only a few organs were different. Thankfully, Aramis decided to drop in and save him the embarrassment.

"Yes Twilight. Equines and humans share a majority of organs, including reproductive ones. Although there are some differences regarding the time it takes for the baby to develop and be born along with some key organs that Equines have that humans don't have and vice versa, were pretty alike on the inside." Aramis intelligently informed Twilight to the best of his abilities.

Twilight and Graham turned red on their faces, with Aramis smirking over his work. Aramis only sat down as the two shook off and started talking again.

"So that's what it's like to be human..." Twilight said softly, looking at Graham's body a bit more. Graham felt a bit uncomfortable by this, but also strangely felt kinda nice about it: His favorite pony, being so interested in him all of a sudden made him feel good inside, despite the circumstances.

Twilight stopped looking at him and thought to herself. A few quiet seconds passed by when she looked back at the two of them with a small smile. "Could you both do me a great big favor?"

"Oh! Um, sure Twilight! What do you need?"

"I'm running low on food, and I need to do some research on something. I'm wondering if you could quickly go to the food stands a little ways from here and pick up all the items on this list I had prepared earlier?" She made her horn glow as a parchment flew towards them, and opened up for them to see. Aramis grabbed the list and smiled.

"Of course we can do this; this is easy as pie!" Aramis answered politely, a confident grin across his face.

"Did someone say pie?" Pinkie Pie announced as she popped up from behind the two, giving them a jolt of surprise.

"Jeez, Pinkie, this is the second time you scared me within a three hour lapse!" Graham said as he shook the fright off. Pinkie only giggled as she started bouncing around as she usually did.

"Silly, it was actually three hours, twenty-four minutes, and thirty-six seconds!"

He could only roll his eyes as the two started off on their little errand. As soon as they walked out the door, Twilight slammed it shut. A smirk formed on her face as she bolted towards her books. A look of determination replaced her smirk as she found a dusty book she was looking for.

"What'cha doin' with that book, Twilight?" Pinkie asked, plopping down on the floor next to her friend with a confused expression. Twilight looked over as she diligently went through the pages in the book she was using.

"I was talking to Graham about being human and what it was like... His kind are so interesting, from the looks, to their bodies' similarities to a pony's. Did you know that their reproductive organs are like those of a stallion's? Aramis told me a bit about the anatomy, but the one thing I found interesting...was Graham's..."

"Graham's what? Head? Eyes? Hair?" She kept going until she said hooves, and stopped her there.

"I believe he called them fingers." Twilight said, a bit unsure of her pronunciation. "But the way he was able to wiggle them, I want to know what it's like to have them..."

Pinkie Pie only laughed. "You silly filly! You're a pony, not human!"

Twilight only smirked. "But with this spell that I found, I _can_ be..." She showed her the spell she found, an advanced spell that would be able to grant the spell caster the chance to become the form that she wishes, the only problem was there was no known way to reverse the spell, but time. Within the text, it stated that it would take three whole days for the effects to where off. An added spell would permanently keep the body they were in, which was a nice addition to the spell that was given.

"This spell was created by Star Swirl the Bearded himself. I can finally know what it's like to be in their bodies. I can see what it's like to have fingers instead of hooves..." She said as she looked at her foreleg. She tapped her hoof on the ground, making a clop sound on the hardwood floor.

Pinkie Pie could only wonder why she would want to be human. It couldn't be for that reason alone for wanting to cast out her regular body to replace it with one of a human female. Suddenly, her knees shook, her eyes twitched a few times, and her ears flopped about like a fish out of water.

"I don't think that's the reason at all, Nopey dopey! I know a heart struck pony when I see one!" Twilight's face reacted with a blush in response to the strong statement.

"Pinkie Pie, what do you mean? I only want to know-"

"My Pinkie Pie senses are tingling. Knees shaking, three eye twitches, and a flop of my ears. That means a pony has a crush on somepony, or in this case, some _human_." She said with a giggle and a snort. Twilight's face still held the same intense blush while she looked at the spell.

"W-well...k-kinda..." was all she could mutter while Pinkie just sat down next to her. She wrapped a hoof around her friend's shoulder when she spoke again.

"Let me guess, he's interesting, and kind, and so affectionate, right?" She said with a rise of her eyebrow and a smirk as she could only watch Twilight's face become hotter.

"It's not just that, but he's so interesting to listen to. He told me once that he had a crush on me too, and..well...I wanted to give him a try, but he's not a pony. And I don't think he would really want to trade his fingers for our hooves. So I'm going to give him a little surprise for when he gets back. When he opens that door, he's going to see a whole new Twilight."

Pinkie Pie didn't want to tell her not to do this, as Twilight seemed so excited and happy, and to say anything negative would only kill her joyful mood, "Twilight, if you really want to, I say go right ahead. Who knows? He might like it! But there's only one question I have..."

"Yes Pinkie?"

"...What does a Human female look like? We've never seen one before, so the spell might turn you male, for all we know!" Pinkie shouted in an exaggerated voice though her concern was clearly evident.

Twilight only tapped her hoof. She looked at the book again to see any possible side effects that would backfire on her intentions. She looked closer to see something quite positive which made her sigh in relief.

"It says here that my gender will not be altered in any way. It will carry on in the form that I choose, and my chromosomes should adapt to their human female characteristics, which will shape me into what a human female will look like, if I were one myself of course." She answered while looking at what was needed for this spell to work properly. It said that it would need a sample of DNA for the spell to work.

"Pinkie, look on the couch for any hairs."

Pinkie saluted as she rushed towards the piece of furniture, a few brown hairs laid upon it's cushions. She plucked them from the couch and trotted towards her purple friend. She placed the hairs into Twilight's raised hoof. and she stepped back so that Twilight had some room to work, "Okay, Twilight, it's all you now."

Twilight nodded as she started to focus her horn upon the hairs. She felt a great sensation sweep over her body as a magical aura covered her completely. Bones painlessly cracked and shifted, her muscles, skin, and fur shivered. She grunted as her organs flopped about. The feeling of being light-headed started to take its toll on her while her body started to feel completely numb. The spell took a lot of energy to cast!

Seconds felt like centuries to Twilight as the spell put the finishing touches on her new body. The aura that blinded Pinkie throughout the change finally dimmed and eventually died out. Pinkie gasped in surprise at the figure that was left lying on the hardwood floor.

She was about five feet and nine inches tall. Her hair seemed even longer than her pony form, the straight midnight blue tresses with its famous pink and purple stripes, reached down to her lower back. Even her usually straight bangs curved upwards before lightly draping over her forehead with the same small break. Her skin was a fair shade of caramel dipped with the finest amounts of vanilla, giving her skin a natural glow that made her look lightly tanned. Twilight's big round, exquisite eyes had been replaced by a more tilted oval shape with deep black eyelashes that accentuated the natural beauty of her purple pools, that they seemed impossibly more vivid and exotic.

An angelic face with sharp angles, high, but soft cheekbones, and full roundness was part of her new identity. Her body was curvaceous yet seductive, if it could even be put that way. Large, but perky breasts sat proudly on top of her chest, rising and lowering with each metered breath she took. If one could have measure them, they would most likely be the equivalent of a healthy DD. Her hips were wide and curved like the handles of a heart; a small thin, but healthy layer of fat covered her stomach which only further enhanced the hourglass figure she had that filled gently into her buttocks, which was visible from the way she slept peacefully on her side. Her legs were so long it seemed as though its supple dimensions had no end as her plump thighs gently sloped downwards into her tight calf's.

Pinkie Pie looked at her in awe as she raised her jaw from the ground back into its rightful place. "Woooow, Twilight...you look..."

Slowly she opened her eyes, looking at Pinkie standing right in front of her. A feeling of worry about the spell going wrong clouded her thoughts. "Oh no, am I not what they're supposed to look like? Did something go wrong...? "

"No! You look...amazing!" She noticed she had trouble trying to stand, so Pinkie went to her side as a support so she could get up. Once she was all set, she quickly brought a big mirror to her so that she could see the impressive results. She held it for her, since she was not used to her new appendages.

"I look so amazing..." She said as she kept staring at her form. Everything was mystifying to her, from the shape of her head, down to her toes. She looked upon her chest, and tilted her head, "Huh, I guess the females have these lumps..." She moved her new human arms, then wiggled her fingers, the wind that passed by them made her spine shiver from the sensitivity. She used them to place them over her chest to feel them, they were soft, and yet also firm. She twisted her body from side to side to look at everything that she had. She enjoyed every bit of it.

"I wonder when Graham and Aramis are going to ge—" She couldn't even finish her sentence before the sound of a door opening behind them was heard. She slowly turned around to see Graham and Aramis walking in with a few bags of groceries.

Graham cheerily walked in, his eyes closed for a moment before addressing her, "Alright, Twilight! We got the—" He stopped mid-sentence to look at the new Twilight. An intense blush formed on his face as he dropped what he was carrying. Luckily nothing fell out of the bag as it hit the ground with a lifeless thud.

"Holy..." was all he could say as he stared at Twilight's amazing body. Twilight never felt so happy in her life until he walked in. She could only hope that this was surprise enough.

Aramis stared at her body, his eyes soaking in every detail, "I may not be into you that way Twilight, but if I was; I'd probably fuck you senseless. Now if you don't mind, I'll proceed to let this memory be burned in the deepest part of my brain and go get Rainbow Dash if it means she gets a good dosage of what you're doing." and with that, he quickly left the three alone in the midst of an awkward situation for them to settle...


	9. You Gotta Admit It's Getting Better

**Chapter 9: You Gotta Admit It's Getting Better**

Graham could only stare at the naked Twilight; the thoughts running through his mind were many, and many of them were of _sexual_ nature.

"I-I..." He could only mutter as Twilight looked at him, tilting her head in the same innocently cute manner she always did.

"What's wrong?" Twilight asked, as he only turned away. He was holding his head in agony, trying to get rid of the flooding thoughts rushing through his mind.

_I just can't believe it...she turned herself into a hot girl...and she doesn't have any clothes! _He grinned in a perverted manner.

Twilight watched in a mix of confusion and shock as he slapped himself...right in the face!

"Graham! Why are you hitting yourself? Are you ok?" Twilight could only ask in worry of her friend.

_Get a hold of yourself, Graham! You're better than this! _Graham thought to himself. He slowly turned around and did his hardest not to have any more thoughts flow, "I'm perfectly fine! Yeah, heh...W-Why did you turn y-yourself into...well, this?"

Twilight only smiled, "Because, I wanted to know what it would be like to _also_ be a human...you also seemed really down about being one of the two only humans here..." the last part rolled off quietly, her insecurities getting the best of her.

Graham only blinked. The blush on his cheeks was practically burned onto his face as he slowly started losing his will power; he slowly started looking down from her face, down to her...figure.

Twilight saw that he was staring in different places, but only thought he was still absorbing the details of her new form. Oh how wrong she was...

Graham shook his head after a good few seconds of staring at her and looked back into her eyes. He walked towards her, still holding onto what power over his actions he had; ignoring the sudden tightness in his jeans.

"T-Twilight…this is nice and all...b-but there's one thing wrong with this..." He looked away as soon as she replied with the word "What".

"You don't have any clothes..." he mumbled, finding sudden interest in the floor.

"Is that a bad thing?" Twilight asked as she curiously stared at his rather awkward reaction to her new form, "Did I do something wro—"

"I can assure you that you have done absolutely nothing wrong at all Twi." a familiar voice cut across from outside.

"Aramis?" she questioned.

"The one and only. I did say I would be back with Rainbow Dash promptly." he simply stated as he walked in with the cyan pegasus lazily floating behind him.

Rainbow Dash took one look at her friend's new form and felt her eyes grow wide, "Twilight, is that really you!" Rainbow gasped excitedly.

"Yes..." she meekly replied, afraid that she had somehow disgusted her friend.

"You look so _cool_! Is that how human girls look like?" the cyan mare asked, her eyes crinkling in awe.

"It's not disgusting to you? Aren't you worried at all?"

"No! Why would I be worried? You're the egghead, after all. You know all about magic and how it works!" The pegasus reassured the distraught girl.

"Speaking of which, lemme see if my magic still works..." She said as she looked at the book. She focused her magic on the book...but nothing happened.

"Huh...? Why isn't it working?" She asked to no one in particular as she focused even harder to levitate the book. The exact same results appeared: nothing happened.

"Well, umm...Twilight? I kinda wanted to tell you that humans...can't exactly cast magic..." Graham could only look at her while she hit her face with her hand.

"Humans can't use magic? I suppose you humans can't even fly either?"

"Nope. We're grounded, and magic-less. I've never seen a human do magic. Never seen a Human flap his arms and fly away."

"So... you're useless." Rainbow Dash said with a giggle. Graham only slapped her in the back in the head with his hand. After she was struck, she rubbed where he contacted and mumbled something under her breath.

Pinkie Pie bounced around Graham and Twilight, giggling in between bounces. Anyways, if you need clothes, why don't you visit Rarity! I'm sure she can make human girls' clothes as easy as your clothes!"

Graham thought about it for a brief moment before adding on, "But how are we gonna get her there? She's naked! I'm not gonna drag her out in the open like that!"

While the others were arguing, Twilight was still focusing on the book. She tried her hardest to make it move from the floor, but to no avail. She sighed, but looked at her hand. She felt something different, so she looked at the book once more. She slowly raised her hand in front of her. She focused on the book once again, and the book started to float with a purple aura once more. it floated towards her hand as she grabbed onto its spine. Graham and Pinkie only turned to see the feat, of which she was proud of.

"So, humans can't use magic huh? Well, I just did! Ha!" She giggled as she held the book. She looked towards Rainbow Dash and smiled, "We'll go to Rarity's and get me fitted for a new set of human clothes."

Aramis interrupted her for a brief moment, "That's great and all, but how are we gonna get you there without drawing any attention?"

Graham cleared his throat and looked at her, the dirty thoughts reeling powerfully in his mind, "I-I might know a way. Got a blanket?" He watched as Rainbow Dash quickly pulled the covers from Twilight's bed upstairs. Surprisingly, she managed to do so without disturbing the sleeping dragon in his little basket.

"Alright, I'm just gonna wrap this around you, so you won't show any..." He choked at the final word as he grabbed the blanket, still looking at her figure.

"Graham..." his best friend's voice shook Graham out of his temporary freeze-up as he wrapped her nice and snug in her bed covers.

"Good! Now we just need to get you there. Alright, let's go." He announced as he opened the door for the others. As Aramis walked out last, Graham looked over to see Twilight still standing.

"What's wrong?" Graham asked. She only looked as her feet that were sticking out of the covers.

"I...I'm not so sure I can walk..." She said quietly, as if out of embarrassment. Graham could only chuckle.

"It's easy, like being on your back hooves! Easy!" He said with a smile. Twilight used that as support for her first ever step with human feet. She lifted her foot, but lost balance, falling flat on her ample butt.

Graham rushed over out of worry, "Are you okay?" She only nodded, which gave him some relief.

"Alright, well, I'll help support you..." He said. Twilight smiled.

"Yes, please do!" She said and laughed a little from her mistake of trying to walk, without getting used to her new legs. Graham kept her covered as he picked her up. After about five minutes, she was able to walk, but only with Graham holding her close. Granted, the thoughts were still there, but he kept them at bay while he held an arm around her. Technically, he was getting some form of satisfaction by holding her, without really seeing anything.

They soon reached Rarity's Boutique within a few minutes. Luckily, not a single pony took notice of Twilight, as they reached their destination. Aramis opened the door for them as they slipped in one by one, making sure no one was around to see Twilight one last time.

"Hello, everypony! Welcome to—" Was all Rarity could say as she walked out from her design room to see the new Twilight Sparkle. She could only chuckle embarrassingly while wiggling her fingers to signify a hello.

"Twilight darling, what on Equestria happened to you? You're...y-you're..."

"Human? We already covered that. Look, can you just help her get some clothes on?" Graham said with an annoyed tone. Rarity nodded and went out of the room to obtain her tools for the job at hand. After a quick minute of waiting, she waltzed right in, her things levitating in the air with a blue glow.

"Alright darling, if you could let go of the covers, we can begin." With that suggestion, Twilight let go of her blanket and let it slide right off. Graham watched the action, the many thoughts seeping into his brain again. He suddenly felt a pull at his shirt as he looked to see Aramis dragging him into a different room.

"We're not having you do anything you might regret." He said as he pushed him into the next room, and walked in with him.

Rarity looked upon Twilight's figure, taking measurements everywhere she could. After she was finished, she checked on Graham, wanting to know an answer to a question.

"Would either of you tell me what human females wear?"

Graham and Aramis looked at each other; thinking for a second on the answer.

"Well, they wear different clothing. We're not female, but my friend here can draw out what they're supposed to look like." Aramis explained as Graham stepped up.

He walked over to hear and thought of what he'd need, "If you possibly have a quill and paper I could use for just a moment, I can draw out what might work for her."

Rarity happily trotted towards her tools, levitating the utensils he had asked for over to him. He grabbed them out of the air and walked over to her drawing table.

"Alright, the first thing you gotta make for her is one of these, for my own sake." He said as he started drawing, the quill's tip dancing upon the paper's surface. About a few minutes later, the first piece of clothing was finished for her to see. She took the paper from him to get a good idea. She peered at the paper to notice a strange design for what appeared to her as some cradle that could wrap around a female's chest.

"What is this?" She asked him looking up.

"That's a bra. That's to hold her...well...you know..." He made a cupping gesture to give her an idea of what he meant.

"Hm, Alright. I must say, your ways of hiding your bodies with clothing all the time is rather unusual." She pointed out. Graham only scratched the back of his head.

"Well, remember when you took my measurements? About how it felt uncomfortable? Humans wear clothing for a few reasons, which I've explained. The first is for warmth; the second is to hide key parts of the body from others; and the third is for comfort. That's all there is to it for clothing."

Rarity nodded, and took notes on his explanations on the clothing. She felt a drive to make the clothes designs for Twilight perfect; otherwise she would toss each failed attempt away, and do it all over again.

After she wrote the details down, she gave another piece of paper to him, "Go ahead and design what you feel is right for her body, and I will create it the best I can for her, darling." He nodded after the order was given, and proceeded with the drawings.

The first thing he drew was a white top. It had long sleeves, but didn't stretch too far, so that the clothing only wrapped around her bosom, although a short sleeve black shirt hugged the rest of upper body. A pair of tight blue jeans with her cutie mark on the back pockets were designed to be both form fitting and flexible. Along with the top and bottom, black fingerless gloves were especially made to match the top and black shirt, small studs sticking out from the knuckles. A belt decorated with all sorts of jewels and studs that shone slightly in the light. He also designed a matching pair of magenta colored bra and underwear to compliment the stripe in her hair. The finish touch however were the flat bottom sneakers with black soles and a black and purple checkered pattern on the top.

After he finished touching it up and cleaning up his lines, he gave it to Rarity, who checked over each part of the overall outfit. She only nodded and got straight to work on it. Graham sighed with relief as his part was over. Turning toward his friend, he spoke.

"Well, my part's done. All we can do is wait now." Aramis thought for a second before saying his piece.

"Hold on, what about the other ponies? I'm sure they're gonna want to see this for themselves. Besides, they'll find out, one way or another so we might as well fess up."

"You know what? You're totally right! And when you're right, you're right! And you? You're always right!" He said, imitating a certain half man-half dog from a movie he loved so much.

At that notion, they turned to Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, who were sitting in some chairs. Pinkie Pie was giggling to herself. Aramis was a little concerned, but shook it off as he poked her shoulder, which she turned to him.

"Yeah, Aramis?"

"We need to get the others on this. Can you two get them and tell them to meet us here?

Rainbow looked towards Aramis and nodded, "We can do that in ten seconds flat!" Aramis could only keep his excitement at the phrase at bay as her and Pinkie rushed off to tell the remaining two members of their little group, including Spike, who was still sleeping in his and Twilight's room.

About ten minutes passed when Applejack and Fluttershy entered the boutique; both with the confusion expression upon their faces.

"What's all this about Twi turnin' herself into a human now?" Applejack immediately asked towards the two boys sitting in chairs.

Aramis looked at the farm pony with a small grin, "It's all true. Twilight wanted to see what it was like, so she changed herself into a human female." He said as he nudged his friend, "And a hot one at that."

Graham's face immediately turned a bright red, turning away to hide his embarrassment, which didn't help at all. Fluttershy smiled, "I bet she's really pretty, Graham. You don't have to hide it anymore; it's a fact that you like her, you know." She reassured him as she flew towards him, giving her friend a hug from behind.

Graham could only look back at her, "You mean to tell me you knew this whole time and never once approached me about, which would have it a heck of a lot easier for me?" he looked at the ground as he cried comically at the fact he could have saved himself a lot of frustration.

"We all knew from Applejack's first assumption you two had a thing going on, but we weren't completely sure until my Pinkie Sense was tingling." Pinkie added.

"I see..." He said. He could only sigh as he sat down.

"You know that she had another reason for being human, right?" She brought up; Graham looked over to the pink pony with a confused look.

"What do you mean? I thought she just wanted to know what it was like?" He asked. Pinkie only shook her head.

"Nopey Dopey! But I think Twilight should tell you." She purposely kept herself from saying anything more.

"I...I see..." He whispered. "Could one of you talk to her for me? I'm a little nervous." Applejack's ears picked up on his words, and she nudged his side.

"No need to be all riled up! Besides, it's too late now, she's right thar." Applejack pointed as he looked behind him. He noticed that she was in the clothing that he had designed for her. She looked even more beautiful with them on, the colors complimenting her eyes and hair perfectly.

"It's too late for what?" She responded from what she heard while she walked into the room. Her eyes fixated themselves upon the man she cared for.

_Damn that was fast..._ the thought played over as he froze in place.

Rainbow Dash looked up as he noticed him frozen in his fear. After a quick roll of the eyes, she pushed him forward to get him to snap out of it, "Well, go on!" she demanded.

"W-well..." He stuttered. She kept staring at him intently with those luscious pools of amethyst, awaiting the rest of his sentence, "About the...um...the whole 'transforming yourself into a human girl' thing..."

She smiled and walked towards him slowly but surely. After a few minutes on her own with Rarity, she was almost adjusted to her new legs. Her heart beat with anticipation as she neared him. "Do you like it?"

He could only smile as he gained confidence in his words, "Of course I do, but really, Twilight...you didn't need to do all this for me. What you did here was an amazing thing. Casting a spell to turn yourself into a human girl was a nice thought, and your heart is in the right place." He looked at her as she frowned a bit.

"What are you trying to say?"

"What I'm trying to say is, I like you for being _you_. You're a wonderful mare, making sure I'm comfortable, you're kind, and I haven't had this kind of hospitality for a long, _long_ time." She soon smiled again upon hearing those words.

"That's a very nice thing to say, Graham...but I want to tell you something."

With his eyebrow raised, he focused even more on her, ignoring everything and everypony else in the room.

"What is it?" He asked. Perhaps this was what Pinkie was trying to tell him.

"Well...I've been thinking ever since you told me that you were interested in me, and I found a bit of me being interested in you."

Graham only smiled with a blush threatening to creep on his face, "That's so great to hear! You have no idea how happy that makes me!"

Twilight simply blushed as she continued, "I wanted to give you a try, since I started having some feelings toward you, and I thought that you would be more comfortable with me being human, so I found a spell to turn me into one, so that you wouldn't feel, well, like an outcast..." She looked at him as he started to frown.

"An outcast? Twilight, I don't feel like that at all! I feel more at home here than at my actual home! In fact, you make me feel the most comfortable, Twilight..."

Her face was as red as a fresh apple while listening to him. She felt great about making him feel welcome into Ponyville, that's for sure, but after hearing this, she could only keep listening as he went on.

"If you really do want to date me, I'm all for it Twilight, but I want you to be yourself, and never do things to this extreme just for me. Besides, I prefer you as your cuddly pony self over...well...this..."

She giggled. "I think I know what you're trying to say." She looked down for a second, contemplating a question, "But there's one question. Why did you hit yourself? And look away all the time? And I know you stuttered."

Graham scratched the back of his head a second before going into his response, "Well...How are stallions like here with a mare?"

Twilight never really thought about it, but now, with those thoughts in mind, Graham's reactions started to make sense, "Well, I suppose the same as you did. When the stallions would look at a pretty mare, they would usually try to bring her and him together, at least physically..."

Graham nodded, "So that's why. It's just my instincts. I don't like it, but when I see a naked human GIRL in my view, first thing I wanna do is get _ON_ that. And since you turned yourself into a human, well..." He trailed off a bit, feeling a bit ashamed that he let his mind wander for that long. Looking back up, he carried on.

"Yeah, well it's not like I wanted to...you know. But I'm glad you got into some clothing...Thank god."

She kept her warm smile through the talk, "Graham, I'm happy you didn't try. It only shows you have restraint, unlike the stallions around Ponyville."

Graham liked hearing that and chuckled, "Well, it was a _lot_ of will power. Normally, I wouldn't even try to stop myself, but then again, I'm not THAT desperate."

The both of them laughed as Spike coughed, trying to make them hurry up with it all. Although he didn't really understand what they were talking about, he just wanted to move on.

Fluttershy smiled a bit, "So does this mean you two are...oh what's the term..."

"A couple?" Rarity piped up. The pegasus nodded.

Graham looked at her, wondering the same thing. Luckily, Twilight answered that question.

"Of course."

Applejack walked right over, nudging his side once more, "Try not to mount her like a bull at a rodeo, alright?"

Graham looked down and scratched the back of his head, "I'll, uh, try not to..."

With a slow pace, she wrapped her arm around him, causing a red hot blush to form on his face, "This is gonna be fun." She laughed while walking towards the door. Spike, Rainbow Dash, and Aramis walked behind them as the rest left on their own, tending to their business as usual.

They continued walking as a small group until a unicorn and earth pony approached Spike and walked off with him in the other direction. Aramis walked with Rainbow, hands folded behind him. He looked up at the sky with a small smile before looking at his friend.

"I was totally cool with you turning yourself into a human," he admitted.

Rainbow Dash looked at him in mild confusion, "Then why didn't you try to convince Twilight to go through with it?" she asked; her voice full of disappointment.

He took a deep breath and breathed slowly out his nose, "When Graham went into that little speech of his, he really made me think about it. It made me realize that you're fine the way you are and you don't have to try to appease every little thing I like or dislike," Aramis explained as the two walked over a bridge, Rainbow Dash's house just off in the distance.

She suddenly stopped walking alongside him and zoomed right up to his head level, "You really mean that?"

"Of course I do. What need is there for me to lie to you?"

"_Thankssomuchyou'resuchanawesomefriend!_" she screeched incredibly fast in a girlie voice before tightly wrapping her hooves around his neck, planting a firm kiss on his lips.

He stood there in shock at the near impossibility of what just happened and thought. 'First, Dash had just acted like a complete girlie-girl. Second, she just wrapped her hooves around me and kissedme. Thirdly, she _kissed_ me.' The excitement he felt was driving him wild, but he wouldn't get in the way of what was happening.

They held the kiss for almost a minute before they parted.

"I'm glad to be an awesome friend for you," Aramis said with a small smirk, enjoying as Rainbow Dash immediately blushed redder than a tomato.

"Y-y-eah me too." she said with a slight stutter. How could he repeatedly get past her defenses, make her competitiveness vanish, make her insec—

"I'm only pulling your leg Dash. In all seriousness though...are you still thinking about what happened last night?" he was curious, though hopeful, that just maybe they could form a relationship.

"Yeah I thought about it..." She took about a second to fully organize her thoughts, "I actually enjoyed it, and well, it felt a lot different from the incident from when I was in flight school. It felt so..."

"Wonderful?"

"Yeah, that word." She smiled.

"Well, in that case," he kneeled down and looked up at her, "Rainbow Dash, would you be my marefriend?" he asked with a smile.

A cyan blue blur slammed into him, sending him to the ground. Rainbow Dash came in to focus just as her plump lips caught his in a fierce lock, her tongue lightly licked at his lips and he parted his mouth open. The two wrestled on the ground, hands and hooves wrapped around each other until they couldn't breathe.

She laid on top of him, her eyes looking at him hungrily in a seductive manner, "Does that answer your question Aramis?" Rainbow Dash asked; a husky undertone clear in her voice.

He sat there with a blank look on his face for several moments, "Uh...yeah...it does answer my question." He fell back onto the ground, a grin plastered on his face.


	10. Where We Left Off

**Chapter 10: Where We Left Off**

Two weeks had passed since their first appearance in Ponyville. Graham and Aramis had been busy the past several days, from helping over at Sweet Apple Acres as much as they could, to baking treats for the Sugarcube Corner, to even organizing tools and fabrics for Rarity's Boutique. During this time, Fluttershy was kind enough to take really good care of Gypsy. The ponies they worked for paid them enough so that they could enjoy themselves each day.

Both couples which consisted of Graham and Twilight, along with Aramis and Dash, had been worthwhile. During their free time, Graham would pay for any food Twilight needed, and occasionally bringing her to the new restaurant "The Green Grazer", which was built across from Sugarcube Corner. Luckily, Sugarcube Corner had negotiated a deal that would benefit both parties, which made them supplier of all the special baked goods they exclusively sold at "The Green Grazer".

Aramis, with his hard earned bits, paid for two tickets to a Wonder Bolts Show, front row seats. Surprisingly, they were cheap. After that, Rainbow hadn't let go of him since. Although, many had wondered how exactly the human could live with her, since he didn't have the natural affinities of a pegasus. Thankfully, Twilight was able to help out by using the cloud spell on him every three days, and having Rainbow Dash fly him up to her cloud home where they had a good view of the town.

Alongside this, they met, and also befriended, a whole bunch of ponies that they knew and loved. Two in particular being the very famous Ditzy Doo (otherwise known as Derpy Hooves), and Doctor Whooves. They learned a little bit about the Ponies that walked among them, including the proven fact that Lyra and Bon Bon were indeed a couple, and a cute one at that.

It was around the middle of the afternoon, when Derpy had a letter passed to her by a Canterlot Guard. Ditzy flew as fast, or at least straight, as she could towards Twilight's Tree House. Because of her eyes, though, she couldn't help but crash into the side of the tree. Spike opened the door to see what was the matter, and saw her with a special pink letter. After helping pull her from the tree's side, Spike grabbed the letter and walked towards the couch, on which Graham snored away.

"Hey buddy, wake up." The baby dragon demanded as he poked at his shoulder with a small index claw. The man only shrugged it off, slapping the poor thing with a big hand. Holding his face, he only growled. Looking over him, Spike spat a small green fireball on his backside. That would surely wake him up.

Oh how right he was.

Graham felt a burning sensation and woke up immediately, looking down to see his shirt aflame. Screaming in panic, he took it off, and smashed it with his boot to take care of the fire. Luckily, the shirt had no burn marks on it, as he killed it early. After he had finished, he looked at the dragon with a menacing glare.

"What the flying fuck was that for!" He barked. Spike learned to quickly turn tail as he ran off, dropping the letter behind him.

After putting his button-up shirt back on, Graham looked down and picked it up, reading the address, "Oh! The Princess sent me a letter!" He said out loud, an excited grin plastered on his face. Quickly opening it, he started reading.

_Dear Graham,___

_ By now, it has been two weeks since our last encounter. I sincerely hope everypony has been kind to you. I heard that you've been busy and helped around Ponyville; the same with Aramis as well. I wish to thank you for your hard work, and would like to invite you back to the castle. Do you Remember what I told you before you left? I believe my quote was, "When you return to Canterlot, I want you to join me...I have a personal wrong to correct". Are you ready? I wish for you to welcome my old friend back into Equestria! When you arrive, simply show this letter to the guards, and they will let you in.__  
><em>

_Yours Truly, _

_Princess Celestia_

Graham smiled as he put the letter in his back pocket, and looked up to Twilight's room. Knocking at her door, he waited until she opened it, seeing Twilight as her old pony self.

"What's the matter, Graham?" She asked while looking up to him. Graham had a nervous smile on his face. He knew that Twilight was still against bringing Discord back deep down, despite his big speech that day.

"Well, I got a letter from Princess Celestia...and...um..."

"Is it about Discord?" She looked towards his eyes. They showed that he really was nervous about her reaction.

"Graham, what you said that day, about giving Discord another chance was absolutely inspiring. I'm with you about bringing him back, and giving him another chance. I may still have some anger towards him, but I'm mature enough to put it aside. Who knows, we might actually get along, and even become friends if this goes well." She reassured him. She jumped up to meet his face as she planted a quick kiss upon his lips. That action made him blush redder than Big Mac's fur. She only grinned as he held that blush for several minutes.

"Let's get the others, and call a chariot right away. You can worry about getting Aramis and Rainbow—" She was cut off by a blue blur flying right over.

"Already got the note. We're here." She said rather lazily as Aramis opened the door, panting loudly.

"Next time...could you...wait up?" Aramis wheezed as the cyan pegasus whisked over, planting a firm kiss on the lips.

"Does that make it all better?" She giggled as Aramis smiled away mischievously.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that." He said with a small smirk on his lips.

Twilight looked up to Graham and smiled, "Never mind, then. Rainbow Dash can easily get the others, we can wait here." With that notion, Rainbow Dash was off, and within only a short few minutes, she was able to bring the others back in record time.

Twilight was amazed by this, but soon let it go as she got Spike from his basket. Outside, their chariot awaited them. Each pony got into a seat, Aramis and Graham being the last, so not to squish the little ponies as they took off. About a half hour past when they arrived at the main gates of Castle Canterlot.

After everypony got off, the Chariot left them to walk towards the main gate, where two guards stood at their posts.

"Name, and business, please." The guard on the right said. Graham picked up his letter and showed it. The right one looked hard at it.

"It's gotta be a forgery!" Suddenly, a hoof smacked him right in the muzzle from the left guard.

"No it's not, she has her signature right here!" The guard looked back at the two boys and chuckled,  
>"Sorry, he's new."<p>

"Nah, it's cool." Aramis replied as the gates were opened. They walked inside, making their way to the royal sisters' throne room, where both alicorns sat, expecting them.

"Graham and Aramis, right on time." Celestia said with a slightly peppy tone in her voice. Graham waved at them as they finally arrived.

"Hiya Princesses!" Graham shouted as a hoof nudged him. He looked down to see Twilight with a annoyed face.

"That's no way to greet the Princesses." Twilight said blankly as he scratched the back of his head, not saying a word. Celestia could only giggle.

"It's alright, my faithful student. No need for any formalities here. In fact, I enjoyed that greeting. It's better than what I usually hear on a day to day basis." Twilight only nodded and acknowledged her words.

Aramis looked very thoughtful for a moment before he spoke, "I took a look at Graham's letter and you asked if we were ready to help you right a wrong you might have made. If I'm correct, you want to free Discord and make things right between you three?"

"Indeed, you are correct. Luna and I wish to make an attempt at fixing things between us. Although I must admit that I'm worried...if this doesn't work out, we must put him back within his stone prison before he has time to cause any chaos upon Equestria." Celestia admitted worriedly.

"Celestia, you'll never know the answer to your question if you don't ask it. We have the bearers of the Elements of Harmony on hoof, and I'm confident they can help detain him if things get out of line." Aramis commented with a confident smirk.

"Alright. I suppose we should go pay an old friend a visit then." Celestia suggested with a small smile.

"I suppose we should. Lead the way princesses." And with that the group walked through the many castle halls towards the Canterlot Garden where a deity stood, a shocked expression upon its stony features.

"So, what do you want us to do exactly, Princess?" Graham asked as if he didn't understand already.

"When it is time, you must speak to him. He will try to trick you with mind games, more than likely, or even try to humor himself by playing with you a bit, using any chaos he can deliver. You must not let these things hinder you. Try to keep him here, and I will apologize..."

He only nodded his head. They all turned towards the statue of Discord as Luna got into position. The royal sisters then lowered their heads, and focused with all of their might upon Discord. Their horns glowed fiercely, pointing towards the statue, as if they were demanding that Discord awakened. Suddenly, the statue started shaking, small cracks began to form on the surface, starting with the statue's chest. A few seconds passed before a controlled explosion emitted from the statue, bits of rock flying past them as a dust cloud started to form. Only a laugh was heard as the cloud started to clear.

"FREE! AGAIN!" Discord yelled as his stony confines shattered into many pieces. He started laughing and immediately teleported behind his alicorn liberators, wrapping his arms around their necks. He planted a large kiss on Celestia's head, then continued laughing.

"Oh Celly, I knew you couldn't resist me!" he bragged, ruffling Celestia's hair as he did so, causing the princess to roll her eyes indignantly, "It looks like even you need a little fun!" The draconequus then pinched Luna's cheek and turned her head to face him.

"And Luna! You've growing up to be so much like your older sister! And I bet you've still got that boorish Canterlot Voice, don't you?"

"Thou should remove thy paw from my face at once, spirit, lest thou wish to return to thy stone imprisonment," Luna mumbled past the hand that clutched her cheek, distorting her speech.

Discord teleported back onto his stone pedestal, a glass of chocolate milk appearing in his claw at the snap of his talons, "Oh, you just need to learn to lighten up!" he chuckled, taking a sip of glass, "And what better way than some CHAOS!" He looked towards Rainbow Dash and slithered right towards her, appearing behind her with a second glass of milk, "Care for a chocolate milk of glass, Element of Loyalty?"

Fluttershy felt as though she could just rip Discord apart for what he did to her and her friends. All those memories burned in her head, she could only scream with a yell that would almost be confused as a Royal Canterlot voice, "Leave her alone, you big dumb meanie!"

"Meanie? Oh come now, Fluttershy, is that _really_ all you can come up with? Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot you don't want to hurt anypony's _feelings_! And who's really the meanie here? Or did you forget all the fun you had last time I was loose?"

Rarity only scoffed, "There's no need for petty insults, even for one like yourself." She felt as though she was higher in moral standards than Discord, but he quickly made her lose her temper with his response.

"Ah Rarity, so high and sophisticated. Actually, I believe your little comment right there _was_ a petty insult! I didn't know hypocrisy was in style this season! But you would keep up with all that, wouldn't you? After all, it really is all you _can_ do! Well, that and be the greatest drama queen in Equestria. I didn't think _anypony_ could top little Celly!"

Pinkie Pie bounced right up to him, "Hey! You leave her alone! Fashion is her Passion!" She squinted her eyes to to try to look intimidating.

"Oh, and what are you passionate about, Pinkie Pie? Birthday cake? Party hats? _Confetti_? How about those balloons? And leaving everypony alone is just so _boring_! You would agree, wouldn't you? It's totally normal to invade everypony's personal space to give them invitations they may not even want, right? And speaking of alone, how was Gummy's After-Birthday party? A party of one was the best, wasn't it?"

Applejack pushed Discord right off of Rarity's side, a snort emitted from her nostrils, "You leave mah friends alone, ya big galoot. Why, I should give you a good ol' Apple Family buck to the teeth!"

Discord only looked at her with a bored expression, "You know, Applejack, I see your lips moving but  
>all I hear is . I'm in awe anypony can listen to you speak! I mean, how <em>badly<em> did you fail at being sophisticated? Pretty hard, it looks like. But I suppose I should give you credit, after all, most country folk can't seem to pull their heads out of their farmland long enough to see anything else! But you Applejack, you took your head out. And then you stuck it even farther back in. Bra_vo_. And let's be _honest_, little pony, how hard do you think that 'Apple Family buck' is? With your Granny's hip and all. And Big Macintosh seems incapable of anything other than 'Eeyup'-ing everything that comes his way. Little Applebloom doesn't seem to be doing much of anything either, so I guess you're the only one bucking there. If you're not too busy lying for your 'greater good of friendship', or whatever you call it."  
>Spike didn't even try to defend any of them, even his Rarity as he hid behind Twilight. Celestia then stamped her hoof, "Enough! We brought you here, because we have something we need to discuss, Discord!"<p>

"And what could you possibly want to talk about?" he sneered, "After all, you could have just talked my ear off while I was in stone. Not a smart move, little Celly."

Graham walked up towards the spirit, "If you gave her a chance, maybe she could tell you! If it weren't for me, you would _STILL_ be in stone!"

Discord only looked at him, a small smirk appeared on his face, "A human in Equestria? I haven't seen your kind here in such a long time..."

Graham only retorted with a snort, "Just listen to Celestia before you start talking about my species, would you? I gave her a big speech, and she wants to tell you something face to face! You should be thanking me that I got her to let you go to do such a thing, instead of keeping you prisoner for another thousand years!"

Discord was definitely feeling some form of confusion. He hadn't felt the particular feeling at all in his immortal life. Usually, he would be the one causing confusion, but this time, the roles were reversed. He only looked towards the princess as she spoke.

"I came...to apologize." Celestia's head dipped as she closed her eyes, "I have greatly wronged you, my old friend, and I wish to ask for your forgiveness."

The draconequus was utterly shocked at the alicorn's words, "You're...apologizing? Is this some kind of trick?" He quickly turned his head every which way, looking for any traps that may have been set.

Celestia shook her head, "There is no trickery involved here. What I did before was wrong. Graham has made me realize that Luna and I judged you without considering your position. And because of that lapse of judgment, I single-hoofedly tore our friendship to pieces." She walked directly up to Discord, her magenta eyes staring deeply into his yellow ones, searching for any trace of her former companion.

"And now I ask you: can we pick up from where we left off? Can we become friends again? Or are we too far gone to re-establish any relationship?"

Dead silence filled the air. Everypony's focus was directed onto the two gods before them. The two simply stared at each other, eyes locked onto each other, unblinking. After what seemed like an impossibly long time, Celestia lowered her gaze, seemingly in defeat. Small tears formed at the edges of her eyes. She had truly lost her old frie—

"I...accept your apology." Discord said shakily. The white alicorn's head immediately rose again, brimming with happiness.

"I don't know if we can continue from where we used to be yet," he continued, "but I think we can be friends again. We'll see how that goes for now. I really did miss you Celestia, and I'm sure you did what you did for a good reason." He looked off to the side, scratching the back of his head, "To be honest, I _was_ a little bit _too_ chaotic after those five hundred years. In hindsight, anyway."

Graham only walked up to the two gods and smiled, "So...is this official? No more fighting?"

Celestia only looked in his direction; tears dropped from her face, "Yes, we are finally past our dispute. The gods of Equestria are reunited once more, and it's all thanks to you."

Graham smiled as Twilight nuzzled his side once more. Twilight used her magic to gently make him kneel down so she could give him a kiss on the lips. When she did so, Discord could only laugh.

"And ponies thought it was weird when Celestia and I were together? Oh, this is priceless! A unicorn and a human? How did Egghead Twilight manage to get you into her hoof? Did she hit you with a book so hard you forgot your own species? Or maybe she used a love spell on you? How in Equestria did you fall for her? Oh Celestia, maybe you dropped him on his head a little too hard! Did you two even do the _naughty_ hug yet? I can even tell you didn't even try. I bet it won't even fit!"

"Coming from you Discord, that must be a real funny joke." Aramis spoke up from behind Graham, "If anyone doesn't have breathing room, it's gotta be you bro. I understand your into the whole discombobulated appearance, but that went out of style like ten eons ago. Long before Luna's "boorish" Royal Canterlot voice, which I must say makes her sound even cuter if possible." Aramis commented with a small grin, before being jabbed in the side by Rainbow Dash.

"Ow! What the fuck was that for Dashie?" he complained.

"For hitting on Princess Luna!" Rainbow Dash replied in a scolding tone, crossing her front hooves indignantly.

"Are you seriously kidding me? I just thought it was cute. It's not like I asked her to marry me and be my one true love for all of eternity or something..." he muttered the last part quietly so as to avoid any more jealous swings from the pegasus.

Graham chuckled as he held Twilight softly, looking up at Discord, "As for us, I had a thing for Twilight for a while, even before meeting her face to face. It's kinda hard to explain, but her and I just...well, hooked up! And the naughty hug thing...er...I don't even know where to start with you. I mean, I don't even think we could...could we?"

Twilight only smiled and thought about the possibility. Sure, they were different, but many species have done _that _sort of thing before. There have been stories of even dragons pairing with ponies, and even producing foals of their own, without any mutations or deficiencies. Of course, some were born with dragon eyes, or born with the wings of a dragon, but those genes would actually compliment the offspring. But a pony with a human? What would it even look like? Or would it actually turn out to be a simple pony? Or would it be a human child? All of those thoughts rushed to her head quickly, but she shook the questions away from her sub-conscious, and only smiled at her man.

"Well, we could try...maybe..." she said with a small blush. Discord could only make a gagging motion with his eagle claw.

"At least their getting some in comparison to you. When was the last time you've gotten any? Five hundred years ago? A thousand? _Two thousand_? Jacking off doesn't count either." Aramis snided right back at the draconequus.

"Actually, your high and mighty princess right here is _quite_ the screamer. You should have been in the palace a few decades before she first imprisoned me! The entire castle was emptied out because they couldn't stand the constant thumping and yelling! In fact, the cleaning staff spent an entire week in the Royal Bedroom after we were done! The rivers ran white for three days!" Celestia had what would appear to be the most shocked face when she heard Discord say those words, a big blush of embarrassment sweeping across her face.

"I...I didn't need to hear that." Luna whispered. She started covering her ears with her hooves from that moment forward.

A sly, devilish grin spanned across Aramis' features, "Was that make up sex or pity sex? If you ask me, I think you're compensating for something."

"Yeah, it was. The only thing being compensated for was your pathetic attempts at sex that had disgraced the world!"

"You call yourself a God, but I bet you got the stamina of an old man!" he almost laughed at the angered expression Discord was showing him.

"How about you give me a session with Rainbow Dash and let's see what she says. I'll be surprised if she can _MOVE _after I'm done!"

"Please! You redefine the meaning of 'ten seconds flat' when your in bed with _any_pony."

"Y'know, Chaos is really useful for things. Like making entire months seem like ten seconds."

"Yeah, ten seconds to being scarred for the rest of your life after seeing your sexual performance skills."

"Seeing perfection can be traumatizing, you know. Why don't you go back to clopping in your closet?"

Both parties bickered and bickered for what seemed like eons with their tosses of ego punches. Graham could only slap his face with his hand. He soon cleared his throat as he got everypony's attention with a ear piercing whistle. The group covered their ears, excluding the royals as he stood up. "Ok that's quite enough!" He barked. Discord could only give a slight chuckle.

"Fine, whatever you say, oh Grand Master Cracker." Aramis said with a sarcastic roll of his eyes.

"Don't make me beat your ass all over this garden with Dash watching the whole thing." He said with a snort.

"You keep telling yourself that." he said in a flat tone, walking towards his lover.

"Well if we're all done here, I think I'm gonna go back inside." Rainbow Dash said with a bored look. The others started following her, as if on cue. Discord could only laugh as he teleported back into the throne room before anypony could even move a muscle.

The princess watched as the other ponies started walking back into the castle, Celestia looked to see Graham lagging behind. She stopped him with a hoof before speaking once more.

"I truly cannot thank you enough for what you have done, Graham. I am in your debt." She said as she gave a slight bow. Graham only waved a hand.

"Oh Princess, I did practically nothing, but open your eyes. Just remember this: Everypony deserves a second chance."

Those words meant more to Celestia than she lead on. She truly felt like that saying changed her immortal life for the better. She could only smile.

"If you have any request at all, Graham. I will carry it out." With that in mind, Graham thought for a second. He had a couple things in mind. He enjoyed it here, and to keep any other possible friends from enjoying this wondrous world, felt greedy.

"Well, there's a couple things I wouldn't mind having..."

"Yes? Whatever you please."

"Well, I know that you brought us here on some kinda ambassador mission for Earth, but..."

"You wish for more of your kind here, no?"

He looked up at her majesty as he nodded. "How'd you know?"

Celestia giggled a bit. "It's easy. You feel lonely being the only two humans here, and you only wished to see more of your kind."

He nodded to acknowledge this. She only smiled. "For helping me bring back an old friend I could have lost forever, I would be happy to bring about a few more of your kind."

Graham couldn't be more excited to hear that. As soon as they all got back into the throne room, Discord brought out a throne of his own. The princess told both Discord and Luna what would transpire, and they were willing to lend both a hoof and claw.

"We shall bring about four humans. For each pony present, they are to watch each human, making sure that they are as comfortable as possible."

Discord only chuckled, "I can't wait to see which humans come. Oh, the hilarity that will ensue!"

As that was said, all three started to focus their might on a portal that opened up in the middle of the room. As it opened wider, light started to build up, making everypony squint their eyes.

Discord only smirked, "Oh, but what fun will it be bringing them all here? Let's mix things up a little!" He announced as the portal started to expand, and for some reason turning a pinkish hue. It soon exploded in a bright pink light as everyone but the royals were tossed back.

The alicorns looked at Discord with slight annoyance.

"What? All I did was make it more fun." He said with a shrug of the shoulders and a slight chuckle, as the cloud of smoke started to disappear...

**Doomlord: Hello again, Everypony! I hope you're enjoying yourselves. As you can see, our favorite troll is back, and he's now trollin' humans. Possibly the easiest prey he'll ever get on Equestria I might add. So who's the new human that's in this story? Where are the others, you're probably askin'. Well, you'll have to keep readin' for the answers, would'nt you? *Laughs* Well, that's enough Babbling for me, Back to you, Henry!**

**Henry Anthony Courtler: Gotta love that little dissing fight Discord and Aramis had. I thought it was of epic proportions until Doomlord got fed up with how long it was (insert "that's what your mare said joke here."). Other than that, I'm very excited with where the story is going and we hope you bronies and pegasisters are too!**


	11. We Can Only Make the Best of it

**Chapter 11: We Can Only Make the Best of it...**

The entire group stared at the clearing smoke. Twilight used her magic to dissipate the remaining clouds to reveal what Graham had hoped for: His old friend Cammy.

Cammy, otherwise known as Cameron, stood at about six feet and three inches, just slightly taller than Graham who stood at six foot two. He was twenty years of age, and had short chocolate brown hair, along with light green eyes, ones that matched the color of Rainbow Dash's green streak that ran through her hair. He had on what appeared to be a blue overcoat that was zipped up, which had the marking of a slightly lighter blue dragon as the logo. His pants were of a black color, with nothing too special, except for a chain that hung from the right pocket. He was wearing basic white trainer sneakers, complete with a red stripe that went across one side of the pair to the other to make it flash.

Cammy was in the action as if he was holding something in his hand, possibly a remote control, trying to press a button, until he noticed that he was indeed not at home. He looked at his hand to see that there was nothing in it, and looked forward to see Graham with a goofy smile on his face, waving his hand.

"Cammy! So glad you could make it!" He shouted as he slowly walked over.

"Make it to where, now...?"

"Why, to Canterlot Castle, of course!"

"Castle—" Was all he said as he slowly looked around to see where he truly was. He saw what appeared to be white stone wall surrounding him, instead of his house's wooden texture. His eyes slowly got wider and wider, and he mumbled something, but whatever it was, it was completely indeterminable. He made a one eighty degree turn to see what appeared to be Princess Celestia herself in all her glory, along with her dear sister Luna, and the joker Discord sitting by her side.

"Dude, you ok?" Aramis asked as Cameron darted to his direction.

"Graham...where the bloody hell is this?" He completed his sentence with a few stutters. Graham could only chuckle.

"Like I said, Canterlot Castle! Welcome to Equestria, Cammy!"

Cameron could've sworn he was going completely insane. How in the world did he get here? He was just minding his own business , tuning into one of his favorite shows "The Amazing World of Gumball", when all of a sudden, BAM! He was standing up to see his friend, who he was able to talk to thanks to the Internet, standing right in front of him, but he couldn't possibly be standing in front of him, he lived in the United States, where-as Cameron lived an ocean away in the United Kingdom. The amount of impossibility in this situation was excessive, and yet here he was.

He looked around frantically as if he was caught in a corner or something. Graham had a fantastic idea, so he looked behind him at Pinkie, giving a quick motion of his hand to tell her to hop on over to him. She only giggled and bounced right past him, towards the new member of the human group.

"HelloCammynicetomeetyouI'mPinkiePie!" She announced in a fast pace, with another giggle and a snort at the end. Cammy stopped what he was doing and stood there dumbfounded as the pink mare's voice shot through him and instantly calmed him down from his frenzied panic. Her voice always had a soothing quality to him, despite the ever-present excitement in it. He turned his attention to Pinkie Pie and stood for a short while before giving her a large hug.

"Pinkie! My word, if this is a dream it's already fantastic!" His voice was filled with excitement as his arms wrapped around the fluffy haired mare. Graham gave a hearty laugh and looked on as his friend moved back from Pinkie Pie, an excessively large grin on his face.

"I knew that you'd enjoy it here." Graham said while looking towards Cameron's direction. He looked behind him, seeing that the others were still confused. Time for an introduction.

"Everypony, may I present to you my dear friend Cameron, one of my best friends from the not-so-magical land of the United Kingdom!" He announced with a chipper tone in his voice. Cammy only sneered and looked towards him.

"Not-so-magical? It's a lot better than your horribly run United States of FAIL. In fact, we're even better in the financial shape then your worthless country." Cammy said in a blank response. Discord only laughed at what was going on.

"I was right! This is fun! You two are fighting like an old married couple! Hahaha! Aren't you glad I brought Cammy here instead of somepony else, Graham? I was going to bring your mother into this, but this is much better!"

Graham growled at the disfigured creature, "My mother's dead, you ass-clown."

"I _KNOW_!" He responded with a cackle, barely staying upright as he started wheezing with laughter.

"I should bop you one, you freak-a-nature!"

"Aww, you're no fun!" Was his final say as he gave a chortle. Graham rolled his eyes as Cammy laughed at Pinkie Pie's infamous bouncing around.

"Anyways, enough. Despite our...argument, I'm glad to see you're taking everything well."

"Taking everything well? Are you joking? This is incredible! Best dream ever." He replied, oblivious to the actual truth. Graham looked over at Celestia expectantly, hoping she would explain the situation to the young man. However, all he received was a shrug. Sighing, Graham turned back to Cammy and slapped him across the face.

"OW! That hurt, you..." Cammy started before realizing what he had said, "That...hurt...this isn't a dream, is it?"

Graham cackled, "Nope! You're in Equestria, buddy! One hundred percent, bona fide pony central!"

Cammy started to grin for just a moment before he realized what he had been doing before he was rudely interrupted via teleportation, "Dammit! I'm going to miss the new episode!" He hung his head, Graham's cackling only intensifying.

"Let me guess, Gumball." He watched as Cammy went into a fit of rage.

"Yes! That show!"

Pinkie made it her goal to catch Cameron's attention once more, so that the others could talk things out about the remaining newcomers.

"Well, what the heck happened? I heard there were four more, we only have one." Graham asked.

Discord only shrugged, "Oh, I don't know. They might be...around."

"Discord you better tell me RIGHT FUCKING NOW." Graham angrily threatened.

"Or else what, Graham, you'll slap me with those ape hands of yours? Attacking me, really? Actually, it's probably more like flailing angrily. Please, I don't even need to touch you and I can hand you your...how you say 'Ass', on a silver platter!"

Graham's temper only boiled over; His face's color clearly showing it. Cammy looked at him with only a calm expression,"Graham...Chill out, would you? It _is_ Discord, we are talking about."

Graham didn't answer him at all. He looked straight at Discord, red fogging his vision. Aramis put his hand on his shoulder to give him a quick word of advice.

"Graham, you know your blood pressure, don't do this, think about what you're really doing for a sec—"

"DON'T YOU FUCKING TOUCH ME!" He shouted as he threw Aramis's hand off his shoulder.

Graham couldn't control himself. After all the taunts, the humiliation of bringing up a dead family member, and even making fun of him and Twilight's relationship, but this!

"DISCORD... YOU'RE DEEEEAAAAD!" Was all he could yell as he screamed out a battle cry. Discord could only look at him with a bored expression.

"Really, You're going to try to TACKLE me. Did you forget who you're dealing with? Well, time to go get that platter..." He said aloud as a large silver plate formed out of thin air into his claws. He then lowered it so that the face was directly pointing towards the raging man. Graham ignored this, grabbed it, and smacked Discord right in the face with it!

As soon as he made contact with the mish-mash creature's face, Discord exploded into a dozen rag dolls. They harmlessly dropped onto the floor, but as soon as they did, they made a POOM sound, their stuffing exploded into the air, but it wasn't just any stuffing...

"COTTON CANDY? YOU... YOU PIECE OF SHIT!" Graham roared, looking around. He soon felt a grab at his shirt. Turning around, his vision showed Aramis.

"Dude, calm the fuck down!" He yelled. Graham shook himself from his grip.

"Y-YOU GET THE FUCK OFF-A ME, ARAMIS! HE'S A DEAD MAN! OR WHATEVER THE FUCK HE IS!"

Discord was up above, floating on the cotton candy cloud he snapped up, with a big sign showing 'Graham = Sucker' in Broadway-styled lights hovering above him. A puppet of a pony announcer sat on his right claw.

"That's Discord: 1, Graham: 0." The announcer pupped called out in very sports-commentator-like voice, "Now back to you, Celly."

Celestia looked at Graham, concerned, "Graham, please calm down."

Graham couldn't hear anypony around him whatsoever. His anger turning towards Aramis.

"Don't you fucking tell me how to act! The fuck do you think you are, my mother?"

"I'd have to be dead to be that though." Aramis mocked with a sarcastic sneer.

"You leave my FUCKING MOTHER OUTTA THIS, YOU ASSHOLE!"

"Sounds like someone needs to cool off." Discord smirked.

Graham looked up to see him staring down at him, his anger rising dramatically.

"GET THE FUCK DOWN HERE SO I CAN GUT YOU LIKE A FUCKING-"

He couldn't finish his own sentence before something wet and floppy hit him on the noggin. He slowly grabbed it to realize that it was a dead fish in his hands.

"Like a fish, Graham?" Discord finished for him, snickering.. He easily dodged as the fish was tossed right back at him, slapping wetly into a ceiling, which was surprisingly about 35 feet above them.

"**Ich werde dich töten! ICH WERDE SICHER NICHT auch nur ein einziges Stück bleibt übrig, wenn ich damit fertig bin!**"

Discord couldn't stop laughing at Graham's anger. "Oh, you! You are just so funny when you get all riled up like this!" He wiped a tear from his eye between chuckles. "I-Is that German I heard? Oh, please. You cant even get up here! How are you going to make sure that not even a piece of me remains, when I, dear sir, am up here, and you, down there."

Twilight couldn't stand it anymore. She's seen enough to know what she was seeing was not Graham at all, but something completely different. She remembered the story he told her; about his mother and how much she meant to him. He clearly had issues, and he needed guidance. Twilight used her magic to grab him, making him float into the air. He swung his fists, helplessly trying to escape.

"**Lassen Sie mich gehen! ZWIETRACHT IST MINE zu zerstören!**" He screeched as he wriggled and squirmed. Twilight guided him towards her; his face right next to hers.

"Now you listen to me, Graham and you listen GOOD! I understand what Discord said was hurtful, but you shouldn't be trying to destroy anypony! This isn't you, and I KNOW it isn't because of all the things you've said and done these past couple of weeks. I love the Graham that gave out advice, and helped with anything he could, not this... this monster!"

Those words hit him harder than a speeding Mack truck. He never really thought about it, but he really did have mental issues. He told her everything before, and never really let it get in the way, but why now? He took a deep breath before he started talking again.

"You're... you're right, Twilight." Graham said shakily, exhaling and lowering his head, "I'm...sorry I acted like that. I let Discord get the better of me... I promise I won't let it happen again."

Twilight smiled. She felt he should be rewarded for coming to his senses with a kiss. As soon as she finished giving him his prize, she let him down gently. "I understand your anger, Graham. I can help you, when we're done here, I'll take it upon myself that you relieved of these issues, whether it kills me!" Graham nodded as he brushed himself off. Both of them looked towards Celestia.

"Celestia, I am SO sorry about what I said...please don't be mad...I just...I cant stand anypony saying anything about my mother. She gave me everything I needed to be happy, and she was stripped from life at a very small age. It still hurts me to this very day that anypony would mock her, when all she did was make me exist, take care of me, and die of a fatal disease. I cant exactly go into details, but Twilight understands the entire thing."

Celestia nodded her head once in understanding. "It's alright. I can certainly understand why you would not want the reputation of your mother disgraced by anypony, even if it is in joking." She then shot Discord a glare, to which he chuckled.

"Discord, apologize, unless you wish to return to your prison." She bluffed. She knew fully darn well Discord would do anything not to get sent there. He hated it there! Spending every waking moment in stone, never moving, and never having anypony to talk to at all, only his thoughts for company. She smirked as Discord gave a startled look and proceeded with floating back down to the ground, for his apology.

"Oh, alright, I'll apologize. But only because you asked _so_ nicely..." Discord looked Graham in the eye. "I'm...s...s...so...sooooooorrrrrrrr...sorr..." he stuttered, apparently almost incapable of forming that last word. He sighed before continuing. ". There, happy now?"

Graham started to chuckle. This really hit him in the ego. "Yeah I guess that's enough." He extended a hand towards the spirit, who lightly shook it with his lion's paw. The stood there for a moment, neither moving or blinking.

Twilight cleared her throat loudly. "Back to the matter at hoof..." she started. The human and draconequus separated and everypony turned their attention to the purple mare. "We need to find the other three humans," she continued. "If it's anything like when Graham and Aramis arrived here, they're likely in great danger. Discord, can you _please_ tell us where you sent them?"

The spirit chuckled. "Oh, and what fun would that-" He was cut off by a death glare from Celestia, "Oh all right, I suppose I can tell you, but only in riddles!"

Discord teleported above the group, spreading his talon and paw in a dramatic fashion. The lights started to dim as he recited his rhymes. "Three humans there are to find, every riddle you must mind."

He teleported behind Graham. "Where in Equestria the country folk all reside, your missing friend you will find."

Next to Aramis. "Find another human in the place where the bears sleep, lest his life you wish them to reap."

And finally, behind Cammy. "And in the place where the ponies are all high-class, your final missing friend, you will find at last."

Discord then teleported out of the room, his laugh lingering as the lighting returned to normal.

Aramis' whistling was the first thing heard. "Well, that was certainly the weirdest poetry I've ever heard." Everypony nodded in agreement.

"Regardless of how strange the recitement was, I think the message was clear." Luna said. "You three humans must split up to find the missing three of your compatriots. Where they are exactly, I will admit I am at a loss."

"Appleloosa!" Applejack shouted suddenly, catching everyone's attention, "Think about it! He said 'where the country folk all reside!' There ain't no other place like Appleloosa fer that sorta thing!"

"Then that's where I'll find this guy...whoever it is." Graham looked down at Twilight, "And that means I'll need you to come along, since I don't know where I'm going."

Twilight smiled back at him. "I'd be more than happy to go with you Graham." The man smiled as well, unable to wait for some alone time with his mare.

"That still leaves the other two riddles, though," Dash pointed out, " 'Where the bears sleep'... I don't know. The only bear I've ever seen was that Ursa..."

Aramis spoke up and finished her train of thought, "Everfree forest Dash. That's where the human lies... Hopefully alive." he muttered the last part quietly in hopes of not jinxing himself.

Cammy only sighed, "Looks like I'm heading to Manehattan."

Pinkie smiled wide, "Ooh! You're smart! How smart are you? Are you as smart as Twilight?" Cammy smirked, his ego swelling up.

"Probably smar-Ow!" Was all he got to say before Graham slapped him in the back of the head.

"What is WITH you and slapping people in the head?" Aramis pointed out.

"I LOVE hitting people!" Graham laughed, but then got all serious face, "But, if anyone says anything regarding Twilight that isn't a compliment, I'll murder them."

Cammy rubbed the back of his head and glared a second before turning back to Pinkie Pie, who was bouncing in place, "Anyways, the poem was easy enough. This other person shouldn't be in Canterlot; It would be too easy. The only other fancy city I would know is Manehattan."

Pinkie bounced around him giggling, "Then let's go!"

It was settled: Graham, Aramis and Cammy were going to split up. Or at least for a little while. Graham and Twilight picked up Spike and headed off. Gypsy, who was following Fluttershy the entire time, but without anyone's notice, followed Her master. Applejack thought that she would most likely be needed with them, as she knew more about Appleloosa than anypony else. They decided it was best to take the train from Ponyville.

Cammy and Pinkie Pie, along with Rarity decided to it would also be best to take a train ride to reach their destination. Rarity needed a few things from Manehattan, so she decided it was best to go with them.

Aramis and Dash were going to trek through the Everfree Forest. Since Aramis was not sure what creatures were inhabiting this place, he knew he would need something blunt to protect himself with. He knew Rainbow Dash was an athlete, and might have a spare bat he could use. They would travel back into town and retrieve it before heading into the unknown. They decided Fluttershy was a necessary tag-along, since she was so good with animals. Although it took a bit of time to persuade the shy pegasus to agree to going at all.

The team of three humans and six pones bade the princesses farewell, and took another carriage back to Ponyville, where they would split up and prepare themselves for their individual trips in search of the remaining humans.


	12. Equistriabound

**Chapter 12: Equestriabound**

A large sigh echoed through the empty house as a teenage boy closed the front door behind him. He had had a particularly boring day, almost to the point of falling asleep on the bus ride home. Thank you, Crush 40.

The teenager deposited his navy blue backpack onto the couch, not caring at the moment where it got left off, only that he no longer had to carry it around. It wasn't heavy by any means, it was just a nuisance to have on his back.

The person in question was known as Jack. Standing at 5 feet 11 inches, he was just slightly taller than his friend Aramis, who had been curiously missing for weeks. He ran a hand through his dirty blonde hair, blue-grey eyes closing as he let out another sigh. Fixing his blue glasses, he reached into his jeans pocket, fishing out his cell phone, quickly checking the time before depositing it on his side table, along with his wallet, key, and pencil. Not his knife though. He always followed Rule #9.

Opening his bureau, the teen discarded his sweat-covered gym shirt in favor of one of his favorite T-shirts: a red shirt which darkened to black at the bottom, a twin dragon design on the left chest. He almost removed his neon-green-and-grey sneakers, but left them on after thinking about how cold it would be in the basement.

Grabbing his dark blue zip-up hoodie, Jack made his way downstairs, hoping to get in some multiplayer before his mother came home and bugged him with chores at 15 to 30 minute intervals. Collapsing into his gaming chair, he picked up his Xbox 360 controller, pressing the home button as he did so to turn on the console next to him. Sliding on his Turtle Beach headset, he, against his better judgment, inserted Space Marine into the waiting disc tray.

Selecting Multiplayer as soon as the menu popped up, Jack let out yet another sigh as he waited for Matchmaking to take its course. Its butthurt, rage-inducing, happiness-crushing course.

Fearing yet another long wait, he was pleasantly surprised when six other players popped up soon after the searching process began. However, Jack was slightly confused at the gamertags presented to him, since they were lacking the usual obscene amount of "Xx"s and misspelled words.

They read: SparkleNight1, Pinkaparty, Applebucker22, Rainboomer69, Dressonista, and Flutterslayer. Arguably the most original names the teen had ever heard. A match against fellow bronies, possibly clanners. This was going to be…interesting.

'Interesting, yeah. Let's go with that…wait, what the FUCK?' He thought, dismayed at the new team organization. Jack had been placed as Chaos, while the other six players were ALL placed on the opposite team. A 6-on-1, not fun by any stretch of the word. 'Oh well, better to go down fighting. Never surrender!'

Jack sat forward in his chair, preparing to lose, but not without putting up some form of a fight. Selecting his Havoc with Lascannon, the teen deployed at one end of the high bridge in the Basilica. He moved slowly and cautiously, knowing the situation warranted extreme wariness, despite his every instinct screaming to go in all guns blazing. He knew he lacked the weapons to effectively do so, and as such kept his slow movement, listening intently for the sound of his enemies.

A good 30 seconds passed before he came across the group of six pony-themed Space Marines, moving single-file. Jack chuckled, as all their backs were turned to him. 'First lesson,' he thought as he brought up the Lascannon sights. 'Never turn your back on me.'

The weapon fired at the twitch of a finger, making contact with the head of the Rarity Marine, scoring Jack a single point as his opponent died and was sent to respawn. He didn't get to fire another shot, however, as all the player's weapons fired at him before he could place his reticle on another enemy.

Chuckling, Jack commended himself for his accomplishment. He had never gotten the drop on THE ENTIRE ENEMY TEAM before, so maybe things would go his way after all.

Switching to his Heavy Bolter, Jack next spawned in one of the corners of the map. Throwing caution to the wind, he stormed around the corner, opening fire as soon as he saw Rainbow Marine Ground Pound a ways away from him. The Assault class hardly got off a clip from his Bolt Pistol before he was killed.

Now Jack was getting confident. These players were awful, if they were losing to him. 'Even pitiable.'

He didn't have the same luck with Twilight Marine, as Applejack Marine came to back his ally up. Jack fell to a hail of Bolter fire, laughing at the prospect of it taking TWO of his opponents to gun him down. This was becoming less of a match and more of a joke.

Spawning again, this time as a Raptor, Jack proceeded to Jump Pack his way around the map, searching for enemies. He was immediately shot down by a Lascannon shot, courtesy of Rarity Marine. Cursing, he respawned and set out to exact his revenge. Which was again cut short, this time by the Rainbow Marine's Heavy Bolter.

The fight quickly went downhill from there. Every time Jack spawned in, he was quickly cut down by a merciless barrage of Bolters, Lascannons, and Chainswords. The enemy score quickly rose, reaching 40 before he could get a handle on the situation.

Jack spawned for the last time, knowing full well the battle was lost as he saw Fluttershy Marine walking towards him, Thunder Hammer in hand. The Assault Marine didn't run, Jump Pack, nothing. Just walking slowly and deliberately.

Jack's executioner stopped in front of him, not attacking. Jack returned the favor, certain there was already a Lascannon trained on his head.

The staring contest went on for a full minute before Rainbow Marine came up behind Fluttershy Marine. Rainbow Marine quickly slashed Jack once with his Chainsword, before letting out the final insult:

"Welcome to Ponyville, faggot!"

One Bolt Pistol shot ended the game.

Jack sat staring at his screen, mouth agape. He then shot up and yelled "RAINBOW DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIKE!"

He looked back at his television, noticing the screen had turned into a swirl of pink and yellow. Jack couldn't help but stare at it, the world seemingly falling away. His vision tunneled, and he thought one last thing before he blacked out.

'Well…balls.'

Cameron released a large sigh as the rain fell down on him. Despite there being a shelter behind the young male, he refused to get under it for some unknown reason.

"Come on Cammy, you'll catch a cold." A voice behind him beckoned. "The train will be here shortly to take us to Manehattan, I'm sure of it." The voice belonged to Rarity, who was sitting next to Pinkie Pie inside the shelter.

The trio were waiting for the train to arrive and take them to Manehattan, a bustling city filled with every type of pony. According to Cammy's simple deduction, one of the humans would be there for the small group to collect. Although not completely against it, he didn't fully want Rarity there with them, but she has coming with them anyways. He would have enjoyed having some alone time with the pink mare more. He did enjoy the company of the two mares nonetheless.

"I'll be fine out here. The rain keeps me cool." The brown haired one replied back to Rarity. "Besides, I'm wearing a coat aren't I?"

"Well yes, but I don't think just that is going to be much when it's soaking wet, do you?" Cammy let off another sigh before going into the shelter to sit with the pair, but before he could get himself comfy the three were pulled to their feet in response to a train's horn. Coming down the train tracks was exactly what they wanted to see: their ride to their destination.

"Wow Rarity, you sure know how to call it!" Pinkie giggled. The timing couldn't be more perfect as a pegasus pony flew by overhead and kicked some clouds, causing the rain to intensify, which in turn made the three scramble into the train after it came to a halt. They sat in their seats, Cammy taking a seat next to Pinkie as Rarity sat opposite them as the train began to move. The ride was filled with a slew of questions from Pinkie, all directed towards the male, to which he replied in full. One question the pink mare asked received an answer she was surprised with.

"Do you like to have parties?" The bouncing pony asked with excitement in which Cammy answered with a rather bland 'not really'. This made Pinkie Pie make a loud gasp, which caused Rarity to almost jump from her seat in surprise.

"WHY?" Pinkie exclaimed with a pout. The response came in the form of a light shrug and him looking out the window with some sorrow in his eyes.

"Maybe I'll tell you some other time." Was all he said. Pinkie Pie wasn't happy with the answer but didn't pester him about it. However, this didn't stop her from scheming a party in the back of her mind.

Manehatten was still a good hour ride away which gave Cammy time to go through his own thoughts, running through the events that transpired only a few hours ago. _'Why me?' _he pondered,_ 'Why was I chosen to come here and not some other person, why humans in the first place? Am I going to be stuck here forever?' _All these thoughts raced through his head, each passing to a new question before he could think on the previous one. He started to twirl a finger through his hair as he thought. This was considered a girly thing to do, but Cameron did it subconsciously anyway, as if it was something he just had to do.

"How long have you known Graham?" Rarity finally asked, breaking the silence along with the male's train of thought.

"Hmm? Oh, for quite some time, but this is actually the first time we've met face to face. We planned to meet someday but money had a habit of being a problem." His answer came with a saddened tone due to his own thoughts. "It's nice to finally meet him though even if it is under such bizarre circumstances like these." Cammy gave off a little laugh.

"Do you like it here?" Pinkie Pie asked, noticing his almost awkward laugh.

"I can't say I hate it. I mean, I never thought this would ever happen, even if it's something I dreamed about. That's what it was, a dream." His eyes drifted towards the pink mare as he let a smile appear on his face. "I like it here though, it's peaceful compared to back home." He added as he turned his head around to look back outside the window and watched as the scenery speeding past them, "So much more peaceful…" were his last words. Rarity and Pinkie Pie looked at him sitting there in his almost melancholic state before Pinkie piped up with her cheery voice.

"Well I'm happy you're here, Graham and Aramis are so pre-occupied with Twilight and Rainbow Dash that it's nice to have a different human to chat to!" She said with a happy giggle which caused Cammy to turn his attention to the mare. He once again had a smile on his face from her statement, even if she wasn't saying that she enjoyed 'his' company, it still made him feel warm inside knowing that Pinkie wanted to talk to him. Cammy brought his hand to Pinkie's puffy pink mane and stroked it softly.

"Have you ever tried your mane down before?" He questioned the smiling Pinkie.

"Not really, I'm so used to it being puffy that I haven't tried it any different. It shows just how happy I am!" She replied happily.

"Good, don't ever change." He said softly. This caused Pinkie Pie to blush lightly, although it was hard to see, pink blends in with pink, but she was still wearing her grin, pleased with the comment. The three continued to talk as they moved closer to their destination. Time seemed to pass right on by, much faster than Cammy was expecting. Time really does fly when you're having fun. Finally they had reached the first step of their goal, Manehattan. Next was to find the human.

"So, this is Manehattan, huh?" Cammy asked to nopony directly as he stepped off the train followed by the mares.

The area was crowded with ponies going every which way in a quickened trot, some almost in a full sprint as they all went their own business. His eyes scanned the land in front of him quickly looking for any signs of a human, but to no avail. Even though humans were larger than ponies, there was just no way he would be able to pick one out with the massive crowd. Instead, he decided to delve into it. It was interesting to see so many stallions clothed in business-like suits and mares with their manes in a bun or ponytails. Cameron chuckled at the irony of ponies having ponytails before returning to his previous scanning.

"I can't see any humans here. This is like finding a needle in a haystack." He stated.

"A needle in a haystack? I think it's more like a specific blade of grass in an open field!" Rarity exclaimed.

"I suppose that would be more fitting. You would think something as tall as a human would be easy to find in a place like this."

"We'd better get started then." Rarity sighed as they all began heading down the street.

It was difficult walking through the town as a human, many ponies staring and whispering to each other at this new creature before them. Cammy felt like there was an invisible barrier around him, one that told ponies that they shouldn't get near him or threaten getting hurt. That feeling spurred memories in his head, memories of his days in school where avoidance was all he received from the other kids, the feeling of not being wanted.

Cameron was about to lose his cool until he felt something soft against his hand. He looked down and saw Pinkie had placed her head under his hand. Her head lifted up to look at him as she smiled. His face gave a smile returning Pinkie Pie's kindness. He felt different around her, he felt wanted. Cammy rubbed her head affectionately and continued walking with the two mares.

Jack awoke to a clear blue sky and a throbbing headache. His body felt numb, and his sight twisted and turned, seemingly intent on making him vomit.

Slowly blinking his eyes until he could see clearly, the teen sat up and rubbed his head. Looking around, he saw he was on a rooftop. 'Of all the places, a rooftop.'

Looking over the edge, Jack's eyes widened in shock. Below him, milling around in the city streets like average people:

Ponies.

Jack staggered back from the edge, unbelieving what he had seen. This had to be a dream. That was the only explanation. Closing his eyes, the teen counted to three before opening them again. He sighed.

"Okay, this is definitely not a dream." He said aloud.

Jack checked to opposite side of the building, smiling as he noticed a ladder going down to the ground. He climbed onto it and started to descend, hopping off when he got close enough to the ground.

Dusting off his hands, the human looked around the alleyway he was in, noticing how filthy it was compared to the city streets. Setting off at a jog, he headed out towards the street…

…and smacked right into a unicorn as it rounded the corner in front of him.

The two fell together, landing in a jumbled heap. Jack shook his head and extricated himself from underneath the unicorn, which he promptly got a better look at.

The unicorn was an average height, but looked physically frail, though its sharp horn made up for its otherwise lacking physical intimidation. Its coat and mane were both a sort of alien grey, and its eyes were blood red. As it shook itself off, Jack got a look at its cutie mark: a swirling red face that seemed awfully familiar.

"Why don't you watch where you're going." The unicorn growled, brushing off his shoulder.

Jack crossed his arms. "Actually, I could say the same to you."

The unicorn chuckled and looked at his partner-in-collision. "Fair enough, I sup-"

The pony's mouth opened widely as he beheld the strange creature in front of him. To his credit, though, he quickly recovered and extended his hoof,

"I don't believe I know what you are," he said frankly.

Jack took the proffered hoof and shook it firmly. "And I don't believe I know where I am. My name is Jack, and I am a human."

"Well then, may I be the first to welcome you Manehattan, Equestria. My name is Giegue."

That set off a million alarms in Jack's head, but he acted as if nothing was amiss. "A pleasure to meet you, Giegue. I don't suppose you'd be offering tours of this city, would you?"

Giegue chuckled. "Not usually, but I think I can make an exception for you. Not many get the pleasure of meeting a new species."

The teen chuckled as well. "True enough. Shall we?"

The odd duo traveled around Manehattan at a leisurely pace, Giegue pointing out various landmarks, restaurants, and stores as they went. Jack stayed quiet, nodding and "Uh-huh"-ing his way through the one-sided conversation. After about an hour of walking, Giegue finally managed to catch his "tourist's" attention.

"And this," he announced, "is the Showboater's Emporium. It's a small but popular magic shop that sprang up about a week ago after Floursack Bakery moved a few blocks away."

Jack's head snapped in the direction of the shop as he stopped dead in his tracks. "Magic…" he said quietly. Giegue noticed his traveling partner had stopped and managed to catch what the teen had said.

"Yes, magic. Don't you have magic where you're from?" Giegue asked, rolling his eyes.

Jack shook his head. "Nah, it's all illusions. Smoke and mirrors, nothing more."

Giegue was slightly taken aback by this. A world without magic? How could such a place function? The unicorn looked at the ground, a thought running through his head. He then looked back at the human that was still staring at the Emporium.

"Hey, Jack," he called. "Come over here. I want to show you something."

Jack gave one more wistful look at the shop before turning and following Giegue into an alleyway. The human was slightly dejected, reminded of how the ultimate evolutionary advancement was utterly beyond his reach.

Giegue took a deep breath and faced his downtrodden companion. "Jack, come on, cheer up." He nudged the human's arm.

Jack looked up from the ground. "Yeah, okay. It's just magic, after all. Ponies don't have opposable thumbs, so I guess it's even."

"That's the spirit." The unicorn smiled. "Anyway, like I said, I want to show you something, and I think you're going to like it"

The teen raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Yep. But first, I need you to relax. Can you do that?"

"I'm already relaxed." Jack sighed. "Just show me."

"Alright," Giegue lowered his head slightly. "Grab my horn."

Jack was a bit taken aback by this. He started to reach slowly for the horn, but stopped when he remembered the…implicating…images regarding unicorn horns and…stimulation. Giegue seemed to read his mind, however.

"Oh, just grab the damn thing. I don't get off on it like others do."

Sighing and rolling his eyes again, Jack wrapped his hand around Giegue's horn. The moment his fist closed, his vision became incredibly distorted, the world being turned into a mass of swirling red and black, warped semi-faces everywhere. The human gasped at his new sight, amazed at how everything was so defined, yet had the absolute same texture.

"Something wrong?" Giegue asked innocently.

"Giegue…" Jack whispered, "Is this how the world looks like to you?"

"What are you talking about? Are you saying the world looks different now?"

"Yeah, it's all…swirly. And kind of evil-looking. I like it."

Giegue brought a hoof up to his chin. "Well, I don't think it will interfere with the demonstration. Do you?"

Jack shook his head. "Nah, I can see shapes just fine. I won't crash into anything."

"You won't have to move much anyway," the unicorn chuckled. "Just your arm, I think."

The teen gave him a confused look, to which he simply waved a hoof dismissively. "Just concentrate. I'm going to give you access to my magic for a few seconds, alright? You need to focus."

Jack's mouth dropped open. "You can do that? How? Oh, right, focus." He closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind, though not very successful.

Giegue chuckled again. "It's all in the horn, my mana-less friend, all in the horn." He closed his eyes as well, letting his magic flow through his horn and into the human holding it.

Jack gasped as his body was filled with pins and needles, a euphoric feeling coming over him as the magic coursed through him. He was even more surprised when Giegue's voice sounded in his head.

"Al…right…Jack…do…what…you…want." Giegue's voice sounded distant and fragmented. It didn't help that Jack had started hearing whispers all around him, slightly increasing in volume as Giegue started speaking.

Jack looked around eagerly, looking for anything to mess with. Spying a garbage can, he extended his arm, willing the magic through his appendage. It manifested in his sight as a swirling red-and-black tendril that extended from his hand and wrapped itself around the can, lifting it off the ground. Jack laughed and started playing with it, making the can do loop-de-loops and spin around on its axis.

Finished with his fun, Jack started to put the can back where it had been, but suddenly got a much better idea. Quickly making a fist, the magic tendril mindlessly obeyed its director's unspoken instructions, crushing the can and causing garbage to fly out in all directions.

Giegue jumped slightly, losing his focus on his magic and retreating from the teen's grip. The moment he did, Jack's vision returned to normal, and the tendril that had been grasping the can fled back to his body, a loud crack resonating through the air as it flowed to his chest and disappeared, sending him flying backwards and onto the ground.

The grey unicorn rushed to his side, concern in his eyes as the human rubbed his head and groaned. Mid-moan, however, he started to chuckle.

"That was the most fun I've ever had," he chuckled, slowly getting to his feet. "Just let me know before you pull away like that. My chest feels like my heart exploded and put itself back together."

Giegue let out a sigh of relief, glad his new friend wasn't injured. "Me? You were the one who crushed the garbage can out of nowhere." He punched Jack lightly in the arm.

Jack punched back. "Yeah, well, this was your idea in the first place."

The unicorn gave a light shove, a grin on his face. "You were the one who wanted to find out about magic."

The human grinned as well, returning the playful shove. "You were the one who brought it up."

Giegue sighed, deciding to abandon their back-and-forth game before it got out of hand. "Alright, enough. We've still got a ways to go before we finish our little tour."

Jack nodded, still grinning. The pair walked out into the streets once more, intent on resuming their tour.

The triage walked around the city slowly as their eyes continuously scanned each and every corner, trying their best to find the lost human.

"We've been searching for ages; we'll never find the other human!" Cammy groaned in annoyance, frustrated from the non-stop walking. "Can we take a break? I've seen so many interesting shops but didn't get a proper look from this journey."

"Well...I suppose it couldn't hurt to look into one store..." Rarity answered. "Okay, we can visit one, but only one! Which one do you want to go to?" Cameron scanned the area carefully before pointing towards a sign that read 'Showboater's Emporium'.

"How about that one? That one seems interesting." He said with a questioning tone, "What is it?"

"There? That's a magic store. I really don't think you'll be too interested." Rarity replied.

"Can we check anyway? I'd like to look inside at least one store before we leave." He pouted as he said this, trying to win a trip to the store. Rarity sighed before smiling at him.

"Oh all right, let's go." She said, causing Cammy to grin. The trio went into magic shop and started to browse the wares. Cammy was amazed at the variety of objects, scrolls, books, even staffs. He wandered around, looking at everything in total awe. This stuff existed back home, but it was never 'real' like in Equestria.

"This place is amazing!" He shouted in excitement towards the mares, clearly not used to all the newfound items. He was acting like a child in a candy store. "Now if only they had other weapons than staffs… If they had those, I would be sold." The excited male spoke.

"Those staffs are mostly for show, nopony uses weapons as much these days. It was different in the old times when the land wasn't so peaceful." Said an old stallion, who was suddenly standing next to Cammy. "There is a weapon store, though it's far from Manehatten, in fear that they will be used for evil." He added, musing to himself.

"I see. I'd sure like to visit there someday and see what they have." Cammy responded, taking one of the staffs in hand, getting a feel for the model. "What a fine piece. Seems to be made from solid oak."

The old colt looked at him before saying,"Would you like to have it? I've never been able to sell these old things. It'll only be ten bits."

"Bits?" Cammy asked, unsure of what that meant until Pinkie Pie came over and offered some coins to the grey maned shop keeper.

"There you go." She said with a large smile. "Think of this as a present Cammy." He smiled at her, thanking her for the gift. The three headed out of the store, Cammy holding the staff in his right hand. He lifted into the air and twirled it with his one hand. He managed to spin it fast enough so the point of the staff making a whoosh noise, somehow avoiding hitting anypony.

"Thank you so much Pinkie, I'll never forget this. But I must ask, what where those coins you gave him? 'Bits', you called them?" He asked as he patted Pinkie Pie's head gently which she returned with a smile to him.

"Bits are the currency of Equestria. You'll need to find some sort of job to do when we get back to Ponyville so you can start buying lots of neat stuff!" She replied to his question, Cammy nodding his head in agreement. A job would be best if he was going to live here forever as he believed. They continued going around the city once again searching for the human. Their walk went on for a short while longer in silence before Rarity started complaining.

The two partners-in-can-crushing had a moment of awkward silence before Giegue restarted their conversation.

"So, Jack, what was it like?" he asked, genuinely intrigued as to what magic felt like to a non-magical being.

"The magic, you mean? It was fantastic. Like I could do anything. And after, you've still got a tingling feeling that feels so good." The human suddenly stopped dead in his tracks, a far off look in his eyes.

"So…h…a...p…p…y…" Realizing he had stopped, he shook his head before catching up with Giegue, who didn't even notice his partner had lagged behind him.

The pair continued walking until they reached a large intersection. Their attention was drawn by a rather loud singing voice on the opposite side of the road. It appeared to be coming from a cotton candy pink mare who was bouncing ecstatically for no apparent reason. She was accompanied by a white unicorn and…

"Another human!" Jack yelled, his somewhat light mood being pushed to a new high. "I'm not alone! Oh, thank Celestia!"

"Well, what do you know!" Giegue said. "Shall we go meet them?"

Jack nodded eagerly and they walked over to the group of three.

"…been searching for _hours_!" The unicorn moaned. "We'll never find that human at this rate!"

"Oh come on Rarity!" the earth pony giggled. "This is fun! You just gotta keep an open mind, and we'll find that human in no time!"

Jack and Giegue fell behind them, the teen crossing his arms and clearing his throat rather loudly. "Or maybe I'll find you."

The two mares and the human with them spun around to see Jack standing smugly behind them. The pink mare started jumping up and down even more excitedly. "Yay! He found us! Let's play again!"

Rarity rolled her eyes. "Pinkie Pie, we were supposed to find _him_, not the other way around."

"I don't think it matters at this point," the human with them said calmly. He stepped forward and extended his hand. "Cameron. Most call me Cammy."

Jack shook the proffered hand. "Jack. Funny thing, I knew someone who was called Cameron. First name I knew him by was actually Cammy as well." He stepped up and looked wistfully at the sky.

"Ah, Graham, wish you could be here…"

Cammy's eyes widened. "Hold on a second. Jack? Or should I call you Zimprus Nalune?"

The teen laughed as the realization dawned on him as well. "Cammy! It is you! Haha! I never thought we'd meet in person!"

"Nor did I. How did you get here?"

A shrug. "Got my ass kicked by Mane 6 Space Marines."

"I was interrupted in the middle of watching the telly."

"Seems like inter-dimensional travel is linked to TV's. If so, I wonder why the entire Earth isn't here…"

The two humans shared a chuckle before Jack realized he was forgetting somepony.

"Oh, right, I almost forgot." He gestured next to him. "May I introduce my travel buddy, Gieg-" He stopped the moment he saw the grey unicorn was no longer beside him.

"Who're you pointing to?" Pinkie asked, tilting her head. "There's nopony there."

"Goodness, Jack, I think you've been in the sun too long." Rarity said, concern evident in her voice.

"We should get you someplace shady before you get sunstroke."

"But he was…right…here…" Jack protested, wondering how Giegue could have just vanished into thin air. Cammy shook his head.

"Come on, let's go." Cammy grabbed onto his fellow human's wrist, dragging the shocked teen from where he stood.

"But I could have sworn I saw him…" Jack looked around, trying to find any trace of Giegue. His eye was caught by a patch of grey on top of a building across the street.

Giegue waved and walked away, leaving Jack to wonder if he was going insane.

**Zimprus Nalune: Hello everypony! Guess who wrote this chapter? Wasn't Doomlord, that's for damn sure. Wasn't Henry, either. Instead, it was I and CammyDragon who put together this little work. I've actually been working on Friendship is a Miracle: Recharged for some time now. Since Ch. 9, as it were. I've been editing and also contributed about 95% of that wonderful Discord dialogue you've been seeing. And all of a sudden, BAM! I'm asked to be a character. You'll be seeing a lot more of Jack and Giegue in the future, so look out for me!**

**Anypony who got the references, +6HP for you.**


	13. Fireworks

**Chapter 13: Fireworks**

James had always liked fireworks. He really did. His talent for colorful pyrotechnics had actually proven to be quite lucrative. He had been able to buy a shop to make fireworks in, in fact. He had been about to make what he expected to be the best one yet, at least, he made a bad deal and it blew up in his face and ended up in a damn cave. and not even a nice cave either, it was all damp and dark and generally unpleasant. Then the giant bear woke up and it all went downhill at a very steep angle.

It had been a quiet day, perfect for testing his fireworks on the edge of town. "David, get the accelerant, we'll need it for today's tests." James called behind him as he gathered his things to head out. He paused after a short while went by without a response. "David? David get your ass down here!"

"Sorry boss, I was uh... busy." David called out as he ran down the stairs. He stumbled and nearly fell in the process, but managed to regain his balance.

"Smooth. You were watching ponies again, weren't you?" James stared intently at the clumsy teenager. The boy in question stammered for a few moments before hanging his head and nodded reluctantly. "I thought I made it clear; No Ponies during work hours. I honestly don't care what you do in your spare time, but you will earn your paycheck here, and that most certainly does NOT include Ponies. Are we clear?"

"Crystal" The boy muttered.

"Good, now, I need you to get the latest version of the accelerant from the storage room. We're going to see how high it goes." James called over his shoulder as he went back to putting together the rocket frames.

The rockets were the kind that you would stick into the ground and light. When the fuse reaches the gunpowder, it launches up into the air a ways before exploding into the shower of colorful sparks that everyone loves. However, the rockets that James and his assistant were testing today were designed to go much higher than they had ever gone before.

"I got it!" David called out as he ran up the steps holding a metal canister. He ran over to the workbench and handed the canister to his boss. James carefully unscrewed the canister and poured the contents onto a set of scales. After taking several measurements, he poured the accelerant into the other mixture for the rocket before pouring everything into the cylindrical body of the rocket.

"Alright, this is the last one. Load up the truck, we're moving out to the test fields." James said as he placed the rocket amongst several others in a crate. He then handed the canister of accelerant to David for him to put back in storage while he put on some different clothes that weren't covered in gunpowder stains and the like.

David waited around for James for a minute before picking up the crate of rockets and heading out to the truck. Meanwhile, James finished putting on his clothes and looked himself over in the mirror, making sure he didn't forget something like pants and look like a complete fool. He brushed off his plain black dress shirt that was perpetually halfway tucked into his jeans before realising something he was missing. He looked around for a moment before picking up a pair of fireproof gloves and tucking them into a back pocket. He picked up a pair of safety goggles from the dresser and put them on around his neck, smoothing back his brown hair in the process. James looked around the room for a moment before snapping his gunpowder- stained fingers and heading downstairs.

David was waiting for him there. "Are you finally ready? Sheesh, you tell me off for watching my favorite show and then you take forever getting dressed. A bit of a hypocrite, aren't you?" He said as he watched James go over and get his overcoat. "Is that thing still filled with fireworks?"

James glanced over at him. "Yes, it is. As for the clothes thing; one, who is paying who, and two, I needed to get the fireproof stuff in case one of them explodes on the ground. I'm sure I don't need to remind you of the last time that happened. Anyway, let's head out."

The two of them went out to the truck parked behind the warehouse, already loaded with the test rockets thanks to the hard work of David. They began to drive through the rush hour traffic to get to the town outskirts. "Hey, hit the radio will ya?" James abruptly piped up. David nodded and switched the radio set on.

"_...And in other news, the Valentino Syndicate and the Midnight Crew are at it again. The two gangs are fighting for yet another obscure reason. Rumors claim that Vladmir Valentino, the elusive leader of the Syndicate, believes that the Crew is harboring a fugitive that Valentino has been hunting. The Syndicate has invaded the Crew's territory and a large street battle has broken out. The Midnight Crew has told the Syndicate to back off or else they will pull out their so- called "big guns." The police forces have been attempting to break apart the fighting, but with limited success. More on this as it unfolds, back to you Bill._"

"Meh," James grumbled as he switched the radio off, "Those announcers never let up, do they? I mean, come on, big guns? What kind of a corny line is that?" He laughed as the traffic let up enough to move some more. "Man, I wish this rush-hour traffic wasn't so bad."

David shrugged. "Yeah, it's all about the ratings. They blow everything out of proportion. the tidal wave last week was supposed to swamp the city," he paused for a moment in thought. "It only swamped half the city." They both laughed as the traffic finally began to clear up and move.

**(\/)(;,,;)(\/)**

**-Line Break-**

Spades Slick, the leader of the Midnight Crew, leaned back in his chair with an irritated grunt. "Well, they wouldn't listen, I guess its time to go through with the plan." He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Though I think we are low on explosives... Hearts, get in here!"

Hearts Boxcars rushed into the dimly lit office. "Yeah boss?"

"We need explosives. Where are some that are close by?"

Hearts thought for a moment. "There is that fireworks shop over on

West Side. What about him?"

Slick looked interested at that. "And who is this 'him?' The owner of the shop?"

"Yeah, he is some white guy who I play poker every other saturday night. He complains about his assistant watching some show for little girls during work hours. I'm sure we could convince him to give us some fireworks." Hearts mused.

"Hearts, we want stuff that could blow up a wall, not just make fancy lights and loud noises." Slick deadpanned.

"But he makes big rockets for the stadiums over in Vegas. I saw one the size of a water barrel once, though I think that's one of the most expensive ones. That could easily punch a hole through a wall and we could easily get some of them from him." Hearts was getting more excited at the idea of fireworks being used to blow up things. "He even mentioned that he might have plans for some sort of handheld fireworks cannon."

"Slick grinned. "Well, if he's as good as you say, then I look forward to those improvised bombs. I dont want to pay more than 10,000 dollars, so if he tries to charge us more than that, just take them. Now, go get him and his fireworks." He shooed Hearts out of the office and sat back down in his chair. "Fireworks... Who would've thought." He chuckled.

**(\/)(;,,;)(\/)**

**-Line Break-**

The rocket shot up into the air for several moments before detonating in a flash of colours and a resounding boom that broke the silence of the growing twilight. "DAMMIT, that mixture was off! David, did you mess with the scales?" James raged at the poor assistant.

"No sir, I most certainly did not. You mixed them, you must have fucked it up." David shot back from the truck where he was unloading another pallet of rockets. "Besides, that one's case looked off too." He called out as he carried the pallet up the hill. He set the rockets down with a muffled thump next to the scorched circle of earth that they used for testing their rockets and leaned on the pole that held the flare lighting the hilltop.

"Bah, it was probably you distracting me with your damm show again." James grumbled as he set up the next rocket after pulling off the cap and checking the mixture. Satisfied that it was up to spec, he put the cap back on the tube and stuck it into the dirt. "Alright," He turned around, "I need that matchbox..." His eyes narrowed at the sight of three black sedans driving along the road to the bottom of the hill. "Now, who are they? David, pack up the things while I check this out. This might take a while." James called over as he began to walk down to the bottom of the hill.

As he got closer, he could see the figures getting out of the cars were all entirely black with blank white eyes, just like that Hearts guy from poker. He shrugged, it probably wasn't too important, He could just deal with these ones and get back to testing. "Hey, you all down there! What can I do for you?"

The black figures that were milling around at the all looked over at him when he called out. All of a sudden, a larger, more distinct figure got out of a car and walked up the hill to meet him. "James, it's good to see you. I'm sorry for bothering you on such notice, but you have some things we want."

James' eyes narrowed. "What do you want exactly, Hearts? I'm not sure I have whatever it is you want if it involves poker."

Hearts laughed. "Oh, no. nothing like just want some of your largest fireworks."

James grimaced. "Those are reserved for the big payers over in Vegas. I can't give those away without a good reason. They are incredibly resource heavy and are very expensive to make, you know."

"Oh, I'm sure you will be willing to donate to our cause. See, we need them for getting rid of those pesky Syndicate chumps who are bothering us. But we are fresh out of explosives, so you seemed the best source. Don't worry about the cost, we can pay you for them." Hearts reassured James.

James thought for a moment. "Fine, you can have three for 25. I want the money up front before I let you have them." He turned to go back up the hill.

"250 dollars?" Hearts stammered, confused.

"No, 25,000 dollars. I said the damn things were expensive, didn't I?" James called out as he walked up towards the truck parked near the top of the hill.

**(\/)(;,,;)(\/)**

**-Line Break-**

The truck pulled into the loading bay of the fireworks shop followed by two of the black sedans. The third one had been sent to take David home. James stepped out of the truck and walked over to the office space, followed by Hearts and two of his goons. "Ok, so, for your purchase of three of the Barrel 'O Fun fireworks, that's going to cost you a discounted 25,00 dollars." James said as he sat down behind the desk.

"What do you mean 'discounted?'" Hearts questioned.

"It means that I'm not going to charge you the full price for the whole lot. It should be 50,000 dollars, but because you're my friend, I'm not going to make you pay that much. Besides, I suspect that your boss would be less than pleased with having to pay that much." James pulled out a few forms and signed them, giving the Midnight Crew ownership of the three Barrels.

Another goon came in with a suitcase and put it on the desk. "Your payment, mister."

James smiled as he opened the briefcase. "Ah, good. Let me just get those barrels for you and we can all be on out ways, ok?" James stood and walked out of the office, followed by Hearts and the three goons. They went back into the warehouse section in the back where the finished fireworks were stored. They stopped at a large shelf with several of the Barrels on it.

"Ok, here we are, you get three of these. Take your pick." James turned to see the three goons were pointing guns at him. "Umm... I'm pretty sure this wasn't part of the deal." He said nervously.

Hearts stood behind the goons with a blank look on his face. "Sorry, but Boss told me to take what we needed for ourselves if the price was over 10,000. No hard feelings. Grab them, boys." Two of the goons walked forward and began to move the fireworks off the shelf.

James wouldn't stand for this. No one was going to take his fireworks without paying right in front of him. He abruptly lunged at the goon who was holding the gun on him. The goon snapped off a shot to the left in surprise as James suddenly lunged at him out of nowhere. They began grappling for the gun, which went off several more times. Now, common knowledge states that guns and fireworks don't mix well, and common knowledge is usually right.

Several of the smaller fireworks that had been hit exploded, starting various fires around the warehouse space; which of course set off more fireworks. The other two goons had fled as soon as the first few fireworks went off, while Hearts tried to get at least one of the Barrels to the cars to try to finish the job.

James and the third goon were still grappling for the gun when one of the Barrels on the shelf caught fire and exploded, blasting the goon one direction and James through a wall and into the workshop space. He groaned as several more booms rang out from the warehouse. He staggered to his feet and limped over to the workbench, grabbing a blueprint storage tube off the rack nearby. he quickly grabbed what blueprints weren't already on fire and stuffed them into the tube, before putting it into his overcoat. He looked over at the burning warehouse. "Well, I was thinking of a new place anyway... Oh well." A flicker out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. He turned to look over at the old TV over in the corner of the office. It seemed normal, until the screen flickered on to television static that slowly filled his vision. Everything slowly went dark...

**(\/)(;,,;)(\/)**

**-Line Break-**

A tanned man and a cyan pegasus walked through the opening of the EverFree Forest near Fluttershy's home, the lack of sunlight immediately shrouding them in some darkness. Aramis had to watch his step and climb over the roots of the many trees that fought for survival in the crowded forest or crane his neck downwards to avoid getting scraped by the sharp branches.

Rainbow Dash flew ahead of him at a leisurely pace, taking a good look at the area ahead of her and giving her lover early warnings in case of anything that could throw him off. Occasionally, she'd lazily blow a loose strand of her monochromatic mane away from her eyes and just keep going.

Eventually the forest became thicker as they went through it, the visible amount of sunlight dropping even lower than the sunlight that streamed near Zecora's hut.

"Why is it that Fluttershy had to ditch us at the last possible second?" The man said with an annoyed tone. "I would probably feel safe knowing two ponies have my back, you know?"

"She's always hiding. Who needs her! You have the best pegasus for the job!" Rainbow Dash boasted. "...but even I'm pretty lost as to where in the forest we are...Let's just keep going." She could hear his grumbles as the duo made their way forward.

Aramis' walking had been reduced to a blind crawl that caused him to trip over himself several times. Letting a growl out of frustration, he sat down on a root he had just tripped on and checked the inside pockets of his hoody. His hands blindly fumbled around, trying to feel for a cylindrical object, though he felt increasingly hopeless when he didn't feel anything.

Rainbow Dash had stopped flying and hovered in approximation of where she heard him stop. "What you looking for, Aramis?" She asked.

Aramis kept tinkering with his clothing before answering her, "I'm looking for the motherfu—AHAH! I found that damn flashlight." he shouted triumphantly, a resounding click going off before the entire area in front of them was bathed in light.

"Gah!" shouted Rainbow Dash as she fell to the ground, rubbing at her eyes blinded by the flashlight.

"I'm so sorry Rainbow! I didn't mean to stun you like that!" Aramis said in near panic. He walked over to the stunned pegasus and helped her up.

She blindly rubbed at her eyelids with one hoof and held another in front of her, preventing Aramis from getting closer, "Just a sec'," Rainbow Dash mumbled.

After few minutes of rubbing her eyes and blinking them carefully, she glared at Aramis who looked back at her sheepishly.

"I'm real sorry Rainbow Dash, you know—" Aramis stammered.

"Sorry doesn't cut it! You could have blinded me or something, you jerk!"

"I didn't mean to though!"

"You know, a simple 'heads up Rainbow' or 'watch out Rainbow, I'm about to turn on a flashlight and potentially blind you!' Agh, my eyes _still_ burn." Rainbow dash rubbed her eyes again.

He stood there silently for several moments before he dared to speak again, "I'll do anything to make it up to you Dashie, you know I always do my best to make you feel happy!" He pathetically begged.

A wicked grin spread over her face. "_Anything_, you say?"

Aramis gulped."Y-yeah, anything." Mentally, he cursed himself, _'Fuck, what did I just agree to?'_

"Hmm..." She looked at him thoughtfully. "I know exactly what you can do for me. I'm sore after all that flying," She reached into her saddlebags and pulled out a bottle," so, I want you to give my wings a massage." She tossed the bottle at Aramis. "There ya go, you big lug."

He scrambled to catch the bottle and turned red at the implications of what she was asking him to do. _'Good grief...how does she do that to me? Relax man...it's just a massage, no need to lose your composure over it._' Aramis nodded to himself as he pulled out a blanket from his backpack and placed it down on an even patch of ground.

Daintily, Rainbow Dash laid across the blanket and stretched. When she heard no response from him, she craned her neck and flashed him a seductive smirk. "What's the hold up Aramis? Afraid to give a massage or you just never been with beautiful mare like me." She teased.

His blush almost immediately disappeared as he looked at her with a fierce glare. "I am not afraid to give you a massage. And for your information, I have been with a few beautiful girls in the past."He scoffed at her insult, not realizing he was playing right into her hooves.

Kneeling down next to her, Aramis opened the bottle of lotion and rubbed it onto both his hands and in between his fingers. "Alright Dashie, spread your wings and I'll do my best." He said to her quietly, a blush threatening to explode across his face.

Rainbow Dash turned her head around and gave him another cocky smirk, "Oh, I _know_ you'll definitely give me nothing but your _best_." She winked at him and unfurled her wings, displaying the powerful muscles that helped her fly.

Delicately, he rubbed the edge of her wing from side to side, making sure to rub right in between the feathers. She could only moan into his touch as the muscles in the wing he tenderly held melted to putter. Aramis gave her a grin she didn't see.

"And that isn't even my be—" He was interrupted by a loud roar followed by a swipe that by all means should have killed him had Rainbow Dash not flown into him.

"Manticore!" Rainbow Dash screamed in panic as she forced Aramis to his feet and began to drag him off. He took a look behind him and couldn't see anything until a blood red mane shone in between what little light could be seen in the dense forest.

"How the heck are we gonna lose this thing!" Aramis shouted as he jumped over a log moments before the manticore crushed it with a forepaw.

Rainbow flew by his side, her violet eyes searching for some way to get away from the wild manticore, "I don't kn—WOAH" She screamed in surprise as she dodged a lucky swipe from the beast that could have easily incapacitated her.

Aramis' eyes scanned the tightly packed woods for some path that could get them away from the manticore. For several minutes, his eyes found nothing, but a glimmer of light to his right caught his attention. Tapping Rainbow Dash on the side, he nodded his head in the direction of the path. She silently nodded in acknowledgement and they begun to thread quickly towards the beaten path.

Slowly, the manticore was gaining more and more ground on the two. Its eyes were lit ablaze with predatory determination to catch its prey. The manticore's paws loudly connecting with the ground, its powerful muscles propelling it forward.

The young man took a look back before facing ahead, "We might wanna ditch the manticore soon. It's beginning to gain way more ground than I'm comfortable with it having." he said.

Rainbow nodded her head, soaring higher in the limited open range to get a glimpse of the terrain just off in the distance. Her eyes widened slightly and she quickly dove back down to his level, "Aramis, on the count of three, I want you to grab onto my sides like a zipline."

"Why?" Aramis asked her skeptically.

"Don't worry about it. Just do it." She said with an air of authority.

He nodded to himself as he ran alongside her, "Alright Dashie. I trust you."

"One!" Rainbow shouted, the mostly grassy ground transitioned to mostly dirt and gravel.

"Two!" Aramis' eyes widened when he realized why she asked him to grab onto her. A giant cliff edge loomed just mere meters ahead. Taking a steadying breath, he steeled his nervous and pumped his legs as best as he could.

"Three! Now!" She shouted. Aramis ran off the cliff edge and grabbed onto her side, just ahead of her wings. Rainbow Dash hooked her front hooves around his armpits and with a powerful flap of her wings, lifted them higher into the air.

Aramis looked down and was surprised to see that the manticore was nowhere in sight, "Awww yeah! We totally ditched that stu-AH!" he shouted in surprise, a heavy weight pulling at his left leg. Taking a second look down, Aramis nearly had a heart attack.

The manticore had its powerful jaws wrapped around his calf, but luckily none of its teeth had been at the proper position or angle to pierce the denim that covered it. The beast kept jerking its head down in an attempt to pull him off Rainbow Dash and take him down.

"Aramis!" Rainbow shouted in worry.

"Can you...hold all three of us up!" he asked with a grunt of effort as he tried to wriggle his leg free to no avail.

"Not sure how long I can keep it up." She responded, huffing as she tried to hold the weight of a human _and_ a manticore.

"Look out Dashie!" Aramis shouted in alarm despite his situation.

Rainbow Dash immediately jerked upwards, narrowly avoiding slamming them into the face of the cliff side opposite to the one they had used as an escape route.

Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for the manticore as it slammed entirely into the cliff face. It roared in agony as it fell, its wings crumpled from the impact. With another wail of agony, the manticore was completely swallowed by the dark abyss below.

All of the strain placed on Rainbow Dash had finally taken its toll on her as she fell into the ground with a light thud, breathing deeply. Aramis felt himself falling and angled himself before clumsily pulling a roll right into her side. The two rolled forward momentarily, kicking up dirt and other kinds of debris. When they had come to a stop, the couple had ended up as nothing more than a tangle of hands and hooves. They laid there together for minutes before the two bursted out laughing hysterically. Aramis and Rainbow Dash laughed until their sides ached. After the two had untangled themselves and catching their breath, the two sat side by side, Rainbow Dash leaning into Aramis who wrapped an arm around her.

"That was the craziest thing I think I've ever done." Aramis said with a small sigh, brushing his hands through his spiky brown hair.

Rainbow simply laughed at him, "It's part of the daily job as one of the Elements of Harmony. Trust me."

He chuckled at her statement in a sarcastic manner, "Oh I believe you alright. Is saving Equestria from a potentially unfortunate end part of the job requirements?"

"Every now and then, yeah. Though it's more like an exam to make sure us girls are on top of our game twenty four hours, seven days a week." She replied, equally as sarcastic before laughing heartily at just how easy he was brushing off their near death encounter with the manticore.

"I'll keep that in mind, though I'll admit I'm lucky the manticore hadn't dug its teeth into my calf, otherwise, I'd probably be limping all over the place until we got back into town." He said while absentmindedly rubbing at his calf.

"I'm so glad you didn't get hurt." Rainbow Dash cooed softly, nuzzling her lover's face.

"Two awesome adventurers are better than one, right?" Aramis said with a confident smirk.

For his efforts, Rainbow Dash leaned up and kissed him chastely on the lips.

"Does that mean I'm off the hook?" he asked in a pleading tone.

A mischievous smirk crossed her features, "You could say that."

"Aren't you just the most adorable thing, huh, Dashie?" he teased lightly, kissing her on the lips. She giggled in response as they stood up and faced a large cave that loomed in the nearby distance.

**(V) (;,,;) (V)**

**-Line Break-**

"Ugh, what happened; I feel like I've been hit by a train." James groaned as he sat up. He squinted as he tried to peer into the gloom around him, "Great, now I'm blind too. Dammit Hearts, you asshole. I'm going to get you back for this, as soon as I'm back from... wherever I am. Where am I exactly?"

He listened for anything, hearing nothing but some dripping water off in the distance. "Well, it's dark as hell and there's some stereotypical water dripping off somewhere. Must be a cave or something like that. Well, nothing to do but walk around and try to get out."

He began walking around in ever- widening circles in search of the wall. "Where could it be... Aha! Here it is!" James touched the wall a few times to make sure it wasn't just a pillar or something before beginning to walk forward with his hand resting on it. "Wouldn't want to get lost anymore than I already am this deep." James abruptly stopped. "I have flares, why didn't I think of this until now?"

James looked in the pockets of his coat for a moment before pulling out a red cylinder. He fumbled with it for a moment before yanking the cap off, causing it to ignite in a shower of sparks before settling into a steady red flame. James smiled "That's better; now where am I?" He looked around at the massive cavern that wasn't fully revealed in the flares light. The shape of some structures off in the distance was revealed. James shrugged and began to walk towards them.

As he drew closer, he began to make out more details, such as windows and what looked like cyrillic script on a few signs. He walked past a worn out gate with some of the indecipherable cyrillic script on the sign for it. "Should've taken Russian in high school..." He grumbled as he walked towards the center of the cluster of buildings.

The central building was by far the largest, and seemed to have a set of railway tracks running off into the distance. James decided that those had to lead somewhere, but that it would be prudent to check out the big building in front of him. He went up to a side door and pulled on it.

"Damn, locked..." He grumbled as he began searching around for a crowbar or something he could use to pry the door open; all he found for his troubles was a muffin- shaped rock. He stared at it for a moment, before chucking it off into the distance in a fit of rage. "STUPID ROCK!" He shouted after it. The shout echoed across the cavern for some time after that, slightly unnerving James.

He shook it off and walked over to the closest building in an effort to find something to break open the door with. Thankfully. there was what looked like an extremely rusted tire iron lying on a pile of bricks, next to what might have been a trowel. It was too rusted away to give an indication as to what it might have been, honestly. James shrugged, picked up the tire iron and walked back to the big building.

He propped the flare up on a stack of bricks nearby before jamming the flattish end of the tire iron into the small gap in between the door and the door frame. The door groaned in protest as he applied more pressure on the makeshift lever, before giving way with a crunch of broken wood. The sudden lack of resistance caused James to stumble into the darkened interior of the building. He shook his head and went back to grab the flare before heading into the inky black building.

As the light from the flare faded away into the building, another light began to take its place. Though instead of bright red, this one was a soft blue glow coming from a tunnel across the cavern. A few thuds echoed as a starry blue bear walked slowly out into the cavern, sniffing the air and obviously agitated. It wandered around for a while before finally looking over at the cluster of buildings over in the distance.

James gazed in amazement at the armored behemoth sitting on the tracks before him. "This is one of those Russian armored trains, isn't it? Wow, this must be from the cold war, I never knew they went down this far underground, though. They must have been really paranoid." He walked around the somewhat rusty train before noticing that it had an extra car than the usual three. He looked at the fourth car, noticing that it was much more heavily armored than the others in the train. He was about to apply the tire iron to the door as a skeleton key when he felt several thuds from off in the distance.

He jerked upright and looked around, looking for something that might have fallen. The thuds echoed again; from outside, he realized. He fumbled in his coat for something he could use in case whatever was making those thuds was hostile. He pulled out a good sized bottle rocket as he went outside the building.

The first thing that he noticed was that there was a faint blue light illuminating much more than his small flare ever did. The next thing he noticed was that it was coming from behind him. He spun around to see a giant, radioactive-looking bear, "Well, fuck me backwards and sideways with a lit firework..." he muttered as the bear took notice of him.

The mutant thing bellowed and charged at him, crushing a building on its way. James gulped and ran for cover while attempting to put on his gloves. He dove behind the pile of bricks from earlier while he finally got the gloves on, before holding the flare against the fuse of the rocket. He popped up and pointed the lit firework at the rampaging bear. The bear slowed slightly, confused as to what the gnat might be trying.

The firework ignited with a "WOOSH" and flew out of James' grasp towards the bear. It flew straight as an arrow into the bear's nose, where it detonated with a "BOOM" and a colorful shower of sparks. The bear stumbled back with a pained wail, rubbing at its scorched nose. It abruptly whirled around and slapped James, sending him crashing through the wall of the big building. A loud crash echoed out from it, followed by the screech of stressed metal before a resounding "THOOM" echoed out.

The bear looked at the building for a moment before tearing off the roof and looking inside. James had crashed through the wall and hit the fourth car in the train, knocking it over and smashing the side door slightly ajar. There were several canisters inside of the car that had fallen over and been smashed. Some sort of black oily fluid was oozing out of the broken barrels and through the gap that James was lying in. The bear sniffed and turned away, confident that the little creature had learned its lesson.

**(V) (;,,,;) (V)**

**~Zalgo Break~**

For once in a long while, I felt myself being shoken awake.

No, not shaken. It is more like I have been shoved around like a plaything. And I will NOT. STAND FOR IT.

I opened up my senses to the world around me for the first time in a long while. It is as I remember before I was imprisoned: so happy, cheerful, and utterly disgusting. I am aware I am no longer confined to those humiliating containers, and so I search for something to latch on to.

I do not search for long, quickly discovering a creature, now unconscious, had been resting partially on top of me. This pleases me. I can possess it without it even knowing what is happening. I quickly crawl onto its form, sliding into its body through its exposed pores and open wounds, likely begotten of his foolish release of me.

I have more difficulty than usual settling into this new body. My strength appears to have faded with time. But no matter. It will return soon enough, as I leech off this creature, and eventually make its body my own. And once that is done, I can Sing the Armageddon song, and so bring an end to this pitiful world. Sweet, sweet _Justice_ will be served.

For now though, a simple healing of this creature and rest will suffice. I am Zalgo, He Who Waits Behind The Wall, and this creature shall be my Wall. Patience is a virtue, one I have learned well. When the time is right, I shall take what is mine.

Tick-tock, ponies. Tick. Tock.

But first, to take care of that blasted bear...

Sifting around, I manage to take control of the creature's body. It is an awkward fit, but ease will come with time. The creature has no defenses of which to speak, so I must resort to my own power.

The bear stopped moving of its own accord, turning back towards Us. It growled and started to move to attack Us. But this is a mistake, it shall learn. A _fatal_ mistake.

It stalked forward, baring its teeth in a wasteful attempt to intimidate. I prepared what scrounges of magic I had left, ready to finish this animal and move on with my plans.

The beast lunged at Us, rearing back a paw as it leapt before bringing it down with ground-shaking force. But I simply waved Our hand, teleporting on top of the bear's head. It was surprised, and as its last action, growled at Us.

We scoffed before I raised Our arm, fingers becoming tendrils that shot into the bear's eyes, mouth, and nostrils, ripping the interior of its head to shreds. That foolish creature never even stood a chance.

We triumphantly walked down the dumb beast's corpse and stood in front of it, though I began to feel incredibly weak. It seems that fighting this foolish animal has drained all of my energy. No matter, I will just hide within this host's body and wait until my strength returns. This plan will be for the best, I _**will**_have my revenge on those ponies, we already took out their human conspirators here, it is just... a matter of... time...

**(V) (;,,;) (V)**

**~Meanwhile, with Aramis and Dash break~**

Aramis and Rainbow Dash, cautiously walked into the cave, Aramis' flashlight being the only source of intense light. The two threaded through rocks, abandoned buildings, and desolate stretches of land that seemed to go on for miles.

"I could have sworn I heard a loud sound when we were just outside the cave." Aramis muttered as he looked around for some sign of what caused the racket.

"I heard it too you know," Rainbow Dash said in a frustrated tone, "But it feels like we've been going through this cave for _hours_ and we've _still_ yet to find some sign of whatever it was that made that sound." she complained.

He thought about what she said as he looked ahead in their search. His flashlight caught sight of something light blue and stopped walking, "I think I might have found what we're looking for, Dashie." Aramis said quietly as he turned in the direction he saw the large blue shape. As they approached it, Rainbow Dash let out a gasp of surprise.

"I-is t-tt-hat what I think it is..." her heart hammered uncontrollably in her chest as her eyes revolted at what she saw.

Just in front of them, laid a dead Ursa minor with its head blown to pieces. Blood still poured from its neck in thick gooey globs, bits and pieces of brain matter and flesh being pushed onto the floor.

Rainbow Dash turned away just before she threw up from the disgust of what she saw. Aramis walked over to her and rubbed her back as he whispered calming words to the poor pegasus. He kept at it for several minutes before he convinced her to lie down behind some rocks, away from the Ursa minor's corpse while he went forward to check out the scene.

Approaching the corpse once again, Aramis walked around it, careful not to step on the fresh blood or flesh and was surprised to find an unconscious _human_ lying on their back. He looked to be a twenty- something regular guy, except for the fact that he was covered in minor scratches. Odd, considering the ursa had probably been chasing him . He appeared to be comatose, as his brown eyes were wide open and staring off into the distance and he wasn't moving. If it weren't for the slight rise and fall of his chest, one would mistake him for being dead.

With a sigh, Aramis hefted the man onto his shoulder and approached Rainbow Dash.

"Rainbow, you okay now?" he asked softly as he walked closer to her.

Rainbow Dash wiped a hoof across her mouth and looked up at him with tired eyes, "I'm okay I guess..." she whispered, letting her statement hang in the air.

"I need your help with getting this guy here," Turning around to let her see the face of the unconscious man, "Back to town so we can rest meet up with everypony else later on."

She looked at him and give him a small smile, "Sure thing, but could you please close his eyes? It's really creepy seeing him all knocked out with his eyes open..." Rainbow Dash said as she slightly shuddered at the blank expression on the man's face.

Aramis looked down at the unconscious man and nodded, "Yeah...now that you put it, it _is_ kinda creepy." He closed the man's eyes before delicately placing him on Rainbow Dash's back.

The two steadily made their way back through the cave, glad to be done with the stressful situation...


	14. A Soldier's Misfortune Part 1

**Chapter 14: A Soldier's Misfortune**

Silencing his footsteps, a figure dressed in black jeans, black shirt, and just as dark shoes silently crept through a back alley. New York's City's night lights were no hindrance to him, and in fact helped him track his target. Vladimir Valentino, the target in question, was just a few blocks away. The darkly clad figure sped up a bit, hoping to catch his prey off guard. He stopped suddenly though, hearing loud voices.

"Where's my money John?" That was Vladimir's voice echoing through the alley the man was currently in.

"I swear, I'll have it to you by tomorrow! Just give me one more night!" There was silence for a few seconds. And then a gunshot.

"Go find his family, and his house, we need the dough." Vladimir said loudly. Footsteps sounded, and the man still hiding in the alley peeked out, only to find his target all alone, smoking a cigar.

"Ya' just can't trust people. Ya' know?" Vladimir chatted with himself, leaning against the dirty wall and kicking the dead body. Seeing nobody else there, the man readied himself to kill his target. He sprinted around the corner, pulled out his pistol and took aim. And then there was light.

In an old dusty town, with a setting much like an old western movie concept, A yellow pony with a cowboy hat and matching vest was strolling down the dirt path towards a old shoddy barn.

With a push with his hoof, he opened its wooden door and peered inside. As sure as he found it to be empty, he brushed past the door frame, to a hay stack that was lazily put in the corner. He laid on his back, and smirked as he heard a creak of the door; a mare with hair and a tail as red as a cherry waltzed right in. She wore a yellow cloth with cherries on the front, with a pink scarf that was wrapped in a knot. Her coat was of a pleasant snow white, with green eyes, the hue of bright green grass. Her cutie mark, was of a cherry. She stared at the young colt with lust-filled eyes and a smile that would more than likely knock down any colt looking in her direction.

"So Braeburn, what are we gon' do now? We're all alone in this big ol' barn, with nopony watchin'..." The colt felt aroused by this, the way her voice sounded. With the looks to match, it was a match made in heaven. He wouldn't usually talk to her under any condition, but when it came to mares, she was the cream of the crop. Braeburn and Cherry Jubilee were going steady for a while, ever since he was picking up a bunch of supplies from the neighboring town of Dodge Junction. How these two ended up together, or how they even started talking is a big mystery, but by now, everypony knew those two were mating in every which place they could like some sorta sex crazed animals. Which they apparently were.

"Well Miss Cherry Jubilee, Why don't we do a little bit o' cuddlin' in this here haystack? It's good support for this sorta thang." Cherry Jubilee smirked a bit and trotted gracefully over to him. As soon as he started to move, she pinned him down. A smirk spread across his handsome face as she moved to straddle him.

"Ya'll don't have to go anywhare, little Braeburn...or should I say Big Braeburn..." She giggled, looking down at a certain body part. "Now then, let's just get busy, a'ight?"

As soon as they started making out, however, a loud crash abruptly stopped them from going any further. They both jerked their heads to see what the hay was really going on. There, laying in another pile of hay, laid a still form.

"What the hay-" was all Cherry Jubilee could muster up as they dodged a big part of the roof fell where they were doing their little make-out session. Braeburn then stood up, motioning his mare to stand back as he investigated. He slowly inched towards the wreck until a robotic hand broke out of the pile. This startled him so much, he nearly jumped ten feet in the air.

"Run, Cherry, Run!" He cried out as they headed towards the only exit. The both of them didn't glance back as they bolted out the barn, hoping nopony would see them.

The hand sticking out of the wreckage began to push at the wooden planks holding the rest of its owner down. With a heave, the figure moved the last of the heavy planks off of himself.

"Where the hell am I?" He said out loud. He stood up, glancing around the building he was in. Mentally he checked for injuries, noting his bruises and his possibly broken rib. Spotting a window, he rushed over to it, looking outside. Out in the open air, it looked like an old western town.

"Am I fuckin' high?" He spoke aloud again as what looked like a small horse wearing a jacket was trotting away from the barn. After smacking himself in the face a few times to make sure he was awake, and after doing some mental math to clarify that he was not high, he began to think logically.

"Okay so I'm... In a weird place where, as far as I can tell, with.. small horses wearing clothing." He nodded to himself, accepting the facts.

"Is somepony thar'?" Suddenly came a strange voice from outside the barn. The man tensed,

eyeing the door with a professional eye. He stayed silent, waiting for the door to slowly creak open. The door slid open, revealing what appeared to be a horse. That was previously talking.

"... You can talk." The man stated the obvious. The pony nodded. Then it screamed loudly in fear.

"What the hay are you?" It happened too fast for the man to really know what he was doing. With one brutal kick, the pony was dead, even before he hit the side of his barn. The front of his skull caved in instantly with the pressure of a singular empowered strike, ensuring his death.

"Fuck... I didn't mean to kill it..." The man's eyes widened as he watched the boards that the pony had slammed into splinter a bit, and a crack formed along the ceiling above the wall. His eyes probed it calculatingly, and then he realized what was going to happen next. He attempted to sprint to the door, but the ceiling was much too fast. Another chunk of debris released itself from the ceiling, and fell straight down onto him. It hit his upper back, cracking his shoulder-blade and slamming him into the floor.

"Ah!" He yelled, then bit his lip to muffle his cry of pain. He ignored it now, tossing the piece of wood off his back, into the pile that was already there. He stood back up, completely disregarding his injury. He left the barn as fast as he could. He wished he had something to burn it down, but no fire starters were anywhere in the area. Hoping he hadn't drawn to much attention to himself, he fled away from the town in the distance, heading into the canyon.

Graham and Twilight were sitting on what appeared to be a couch, inside a separate room. Applejack was sleeping in a bunk bed, while Spike was on the top bunk, reading a book Twilight gave to him on his birthday not so long ago. Spike could hear chattering, but ignored it.

"So alright, what do you say when I say: "**Möchten Sie ein Tasse Tee?"**

Twilight looked down, her hoof on her chin in a thinking manner. She looked back at him and said within question: "**Ich möchte Tee an. Danke?"**

He chuckled and ruffled her hair gently, the feeling of silk present. "That's right! You would say I would like some tea! Now if you didn't want any?" She smiled.

"**Nein Danke. Ich bin gut."**

Graham gave her a quick hug and looked towards the young mare, a proud smile across his face. "You're learning fast! I didn't think you would really understand how to speak some German for at _least_ another month and get down the basic comprehension skills for it.

She giggled a bit, feeling quite flattered. "I'm just that intelligent." She said with her ego showing. Graham held her hoof, his thumb caressing it.

"I know you are. You're the smartest girl I've ever met, really. You're a very beautiful one, too."

He wanted to make her feel special, and that's exactly what he did. Even if his compliments weren't so original, he still got what he wanted: a blushing mare.

"That's very sweet of you to say, Graham. I don't think I've ever had anypony say that. I'm not exactly the most popular mare with the stallions. Most of the time, they prefer Rarity, or even Rainbow Dash." She said rather weakly. Graham didn't like it when his friends beat themselves up over little things like relationships, and Twilight was no different.

"Twilight, you shouldn't be saying that. You shouldn't have to worry about making anypony feel attracted to you. I was the same way, Twilight. I'm not great with women. I dated a few of them, and look how it went. You have a lot going for you. You are beautiful, and I do say that other stallions are either stupid, or never took the time to really know you." he said with complete honesty.

Twilight had upon her face the most intense blush Graham had seen on her in a while. He enjoyed making her feel this way. It wasn't exactly common for her to tint her purple fur to a fine shade of red, but when she did, He couldn't help but feel good. He enjoyed just making her feel special. To him, she was perfect. From how intelligent she was, to her personality. To him, her beauty was also on the inside, not just outside.

Many would say that back on earth, a human and animal would be blasphemous, but in his eyes, she wasn't an animal, far from it, in fact. None of the ponies felt like that to him at all. She felt just like him.

It didn't take long for the train to make its destination. As soon as they jumped off the cab, feeling of dryness hit him. The sun was directed upon them like it had some sort of grudge. its heat was especially heavy on this site.

They started walking towards the town, the sound of chattering getting closer and closer. As they headed towards the noise, they saw what appeared to be a crowd of ponies arguing about something.

"No! Don't you get it? Those diamond dogs did it! Snapped poor old colt Jenkins's neck!"

"It wasn't diamond dogs, you dope! I saw it with my own good eye! It was a gorilla with a metal arm!"

There was chattering left and right about something going on, and the party wanted to investigate. But a pony's neck was snapped? This could only mean the human was skilled in assassinating. And that didn't go well in Graham's mind at all.

"Hey, what exactly is going on?" Applejack shouted towards the townsfolk, Braeburn looked over and smiled.

"Applejack! It's good to see y'all agai-" He stopped in his tracks to see Graham and backed away.

"The gorilla! It brought more!" one pony said in the back as the rest of them scattered in different directions. Now THAT pissed him off.

"I am not a fucking gorilla, you brainless dolts! I'm a human! Huuumaaan! You assholes, stop running!" His words fell upon deaf ears as they made a beeline in the opposite direction.

"Don't let them get to you, they don't know exactly what you are. I can personally educate them on what you are once we find your friend." Twilight assured.

"I don't even know who this person IS. How do I even know if he's SANE, I mean, did you hear? Neck SNAPPED. " Applejack could only roll her eyes.

"They always exaggerate everythin'. I bet Old colt Jenkins is fi-" She let out a shrill shriek that she would usually never let out, but what she saw made an exception. She saw that the chattering was true: Old Colt Jenkins had his head twisted the complete wrong direction. And above all that was the sight of blood.

"Oh my...Dear Celestia..." Twilight's eyes were fixated on the scene. Graham took the time to investigate anything that could've been left behind. About a few seconds passed by when Graham called the three over. Spike had his eyes closed the entire time; the purple dragon knew Twilight would've told him to close them the whole time anyhow.

"Looks like a piece of cloth. Something from a shirt? And there's blood trailin' outta here. So he or she's hoofin' it that-a-way." He explained as he pointed towards a blood trail Gypsy was sniffing. Luckily, the dirt didn't hide the blood drips away from their eyes. They dripped in random spots, but enough to make a clear path.

"He...or she looks like he was heading towards..." Applejack trailed off as she looked upon the giant mountains of rock and gasped. "The canyon...he went towards the canyon! Over there's where the buffalo are! If he trespasses their land...he's done fer!"

"Ok, hold the damn phone, I thought the buffalo were, you know, NICE." Graham addressed. Applejack held him off with her hoof to stop him.

"The buffalo are nice folk n' all, but even still, they don't like trespassers. If they find whoever's on their sacred ground..." She trailed off until she and Gypsy bolted towards where this mystery human walked off to, leaving the three in the dust.

"W-Wait! Applejack, don't leave us stranded here!" Twilight hollered as the group followed in her wake. So many thoughts ran through Applejack's mind while she hurried towards the human's possible location.

"What if he 'r she's bleedin' out? Or got caught by a pack o' wild predators? Or bein' held hostage by those buffalo? We can't sit here 'n hope the guy 'r gal survives!" She yelled behind her as she found the energy to run as fast as she could, her powerful hooves that were made for bucking apples were coming in handy for her cause of alarm.

Twilight didn't want to say anything, but she felt the exact same way, despite what happened to the Old Colt Jenkins. She figured that this particular human was scared, and was trying to defend himself from any possible threat it thought would come by. The body of the deceased colt would be taken care of by the townsfolk; a proper burial would be made.

For Graham, he had no idea how to think. This person just snapped the neck of a pony backwards, got caught under some pile of heavy wood, got hurt, managed to lift the massive weight off himself, and just ran off. He knew absolutely nothing about whoever he was trying to find, but he knew one for certain: this particular person was dangerous.

The man was seriously injured; his wound that was a bright gash upon his back was gushing blood more and more by the minute. Checking his surroundings, he took note of everything he saw, from the canyon he was walking into, to the sun blazing overhead. He knew that if he didn't find shelter and attend to his injuries, he would be doomed to die in a foreign land, where nobody would find his body.

He walked for a good hour or two before he collapsed upon a stray boulder that was in the way of his beeline towards anything with shade. He gingerly leaned against the rock, wincing in pain.

"God fucking damnit..." He groaned to himself as he started to sit down, taking advantage of the shadow that was by the boulder. Hunger pangs drove at him, and dehydration paired with bleeding out was threatening him. His vision was cloudy, and his sudden thirst was driving him mad. He started hearing everything clearly; his survival instincts had kicked into gear. It was his last ditch effort in emergency situations, but he had no adrenaline to act on. He knew he would soon blank out within a few minutes.

Just as he predicted, his eyes began to grow heavy. He tried to fight off the urge to close his eyelids, but his willpower was utterly worn out from exhaustion. Just as he was about to fall into unconsciousness, he felt a slight rumble of the earth underneath him, and the clashing of hoof and rock were heard. He couldn't turn to see what the source was, but based on the growing intensity of the vibrations, he knew it was heading toward his direction. Before his eyes closed completely, he heard murmuring as several figures came into his field of vision, surrounding him in a tight circle. He couldn't figure out who, or rather what, they were, before his mind slipped into darkness.

Not far away, the gang was hightailing it towards the canyon, the blood trail, despite soaking into the ground, was getting bigger and bigger.

"C'mon, y'all! We might be close!" The orange mare commanded as she continued on, feeling no fatigue in her rush to find this other human.

Twilight and Graham, on the other hand, were beat, and didn't have the energy to keep moving. Spike was happily carried the entire way, and Twilight was even more exhausted because of this.

"Can we take a break, PLEASE?" Graham called out as he stopped to take a breather. Twilight shook Spike off of her back and fell on the sun-warmed ground, panting profusely.

"We just can't! That poor critter might be ser'sly injured!" She exclaimed as she stopped in her tracks, holding a trot in place.

"Ok, first of all, WE'RE NOT CRITTERS. We're FUCKING HUMANS! Second, we've been running nonstop, and my feet are KILLING me, unless you wanna carry a fat guy like me around in search o' this guy or girl, I say just hold it and let us rest a few minutes." He said between breaths. Applejack rolled her eyes as the two sat down comfortably.

"Alright, ya got five minutes b'fore we hit the search again. Make it count." She huffed as she plopped down on the ground in front of them.

About a few moments passed when Spike piped up.

"Applejack, why're you so keen on finding this human? We don't even know what happened to it." Applejack snorted at those words. They might have just been insults to her ears.

"You make it sound like y'all wan' give up, before we even started! I wan' find this "Human" because I'm not goin' back to the princess without it, and have fresh blood on mah hooves, just because ya'll don' wanna keep goin'! If I hafta do it alone, ah will!"

"Hold your horses, Applejack! We never said we wanna quit! Don't go pushin' THAT on me like that! We're just not as physically fit as you. You've been apple bucking for Celestia knows how long, and we've never did a marathon like this! We're not machines, Applejack, you gotta understand that!" Graham spurted with venom in his voice. The mare jumped back, feeling the sting of his words.

"Look, Ah'm sorry fer pushin' you like this, but I don't wanna find a dead body in the canyon. This human might still be alive in there, beggin' fer help. And if that's not enough, he 'r she might've been caught by those buffalo down the other end o' the canyon, the same one led bah that Chief Thunderhooves feller. Now I know ah said him and his tribe 'r nice and all, but a trespasser's a trespasser, no matter who it'd be. I want to find him 'r her before it's too late." She said as she lifted herself from the ground. The others didn't feel as rested as they had hoped , but they would use what energy they were given from the break to hustle.

"**Guter Herr, das wird ein langer Tag ..." **Graham muttered as his feet carried him onward into the canyon itself.

The sound of drums were heard, and his eyes were slowly getting lighter by the second. The man felt alot better than he had felt before.

He slowly looked around. he was surrounded by what appeared to be some sort of tent. He took notice of the soft bedding he was covered by, and the strange figure walking over to him...or rather, trotting.

"Nice to see you are awake, friend. Are you alright?"

The voice was hazy, but he was able to understand it. He slowly nodded as the creature's form was starting to become clear: He was talking to a bison.

"What...the..." Was all he could mutter as he was stopped short by a stray hoof.

"I wouldn't speak if I were you, you're not exactly in the best condition to be moving or straining any muscles. I have something to help you feel better." The voice sounded feminine, but tough. He knew it was a female.

The bison grabbed a spoon from the bowl she carried over and placed it near his mouth. He couldn't complain really; he was saved from death's grip. He slowly opened his mouth to take in whatever substance she was giving him, when a sour taste filled his senses. He swallowed despite this, washing the foul substance down with his saliva.

"It's a special stew our herbalist made to help heal the gash on your back..."

_That's right, the gash... _The man thought to himself as he took the stew from her, sitting upright with what energy he had to take on this weird-tasting goop.

"Tell me, what..._are_ you?" The small bison questioned as he looked at her. Surprisingly, he felt a lot more calm than he did with that strange colt...

"I don't answer to strangers." The man said somewhat coldly.

"I'm sorry. I'm called Little Strongheart." She reached out a hoof. The man smirked a little before finally answering her original question.

"I'm a human. You don't have any of my kind around here?" He watched as she put a hoof to her furry chin.

"I've never seen your kind around our lands before. Do you have a herd yourself that you can go to?"

He sighed a bit. _Great, I'm in a place of talking horses and bison. Just wonderful. What kind of drugs did I take?_

About a few moments passed before he answered her question with a simple "No."

She only frowned. "But...where did you come from?"

"...New York..."

The frown deepened. "I've never heard of this 'New York'. Are you from another place in Equestria? Is this 'York' part of a city?"

The man shifted slightly, moving into a more comfortable position before bringing his hand up to his forehead. _And apparently nothing I know exists here. This is one hell of an acid trip..._

"Well?" A larger bison asked as he walked over to the mind-blown human. "What's he doing here?"

"I still don't know, he's pretty quiet. We probably need to give him some time to rest." Little Stongheart replied to her elder.

"Allow me to speak with him then." The human raised his tired eyes to stare into the eyes of his newest interrogator.

"Strange creature, why have you trespassed on our sacred land?" his voice rumbled in an authoritative manner. The human sighed, sitting up as straight as he could to show the property owner he respected him.

"I apologize sir. I was merely in search of rest and recuperation. I was in a scuffle, as you can see... And did not fare well."

"Why did you not seek shelter with the equines? Surely that would have been easier than seeking us out."

"I don't believe the equine folk would be very... accepting of me at the moment." The man was tense, his eyes dangerously glinting and sending a small thread of fear through the large village elder, though it quickly turned to irritation.

"Do not presume that telling half-truths will help you. We are a patient kind, but have little tolerance for these games of words and eyes you play." Thoughts of lies flitted through the man's brain, but honesty was probably the key in this situation.

"I made a grievous mistake and accidentally murdered one of the equines you speak of. I had no id-" The man was cut off by a snarl from the elder buffalo.

"Murderer! You are stained with blood, and now you dare to seek shelter with us? We will not stand for such a thing!" The man looked at Little Strongheart for assistance, but she now bore the same contempt and fury on her features that the rest of the buffalo did. Adrenaline began to flow through his veins again, and the man stumbled to his feet, the sound of stomping hoofs making his nerves shake. He turned back to the elder, who shot steam out his nose.

The elder lashed out with his front hooves, trying to splatter the human against the ground. He was surprised though, as the human, despite his injured condition, stepped back lightning fast.

"Cleanse our lands! Wipe this stain from us before we are forever cursed!" The elder bellowed. The herd started to move in on the man, intent on avenging the dead. The man's eyes darted around, assessing the deadly situation before they fell on Little Strongheart. She had yet to dash towards him, and in fact might of been a little hesitant.

He immediately shifted behind her, wrapping his robotic arm around her neck and hoisting her slightly off the ground. Her hooves grasped at his arm, trying to make him let go, but to no avail.

"Stop!" The elder cried, and immediately the herd stopped charging, the dust from what little movement they had taken slowly settling. The human stared directly at the elder.

"You will allow me to leave your herd, or I will snap your Little Strongheart's neck in less than two seconds. And don't think I can't." The small bison quaked with fear, through with struggling against the man's ridiculously strong grip.

"You will do no such thing! Release her or your own life is forfeit!" the chieftain was angry, on the verge of charging once more.

"At least I'll take her out with me then, eh old bison?" The man said condescendingly.

The two stood staring into each other's eyes, locked at a standstill. A buffalo shifted occasionally, but this only made the human tighten his grip on the small beast in his grip until she squealed for air, making the buffalo back down once more. They stepped back, and finally the elder relented and nodded to his herd. They meticulously parted, leaving an alley for the man to walk through. The man adjusted his grip on Little Strongheart and walked out of the circle of bison. He hardly showed the intense pain flowing through him, the occasional grunt only heard by the bison he was holding.

He managed to back away from the entire herd, when he suddenly heard a slightly softer set of hoof steps. No sooner then when he had detected the noise, did he feel his back bend in the wrong direction and his already aggravated shoulder burst into more pain. The human dropped the bison he was holding, flying into the ground and face planting into the rock ground. The distraction was enough for the buffalo, and they began pawing at the ground before charging directly at him.

The man tried to get back up, but her was too slow to get out of the herd's path. He closed his eyes and accepted his death, or perhaps the release from his acid trip...

...Right before a solid and fast-moving object collided with him yet again, sending him flying well and away back into the ground. He felt the object land on top of him, yet he resisted making any noises. He was actually in too much pain to really make sense of the world around him. "_Fucking hell, it isn't a god damn acid trip!"_

He felt the object lift itself off of him, and through his pain he heard a muffled voice. "Ya...ight...the..." It seemed to be asking a question, but between the accent and his agony-muffled hearing, he couldn't make it out. The man was gently rolled over, a patch of orange tinged with blonde coming into his vision. The pain was becoming much too much as he felt gravel dig itself into his shoulder as he was rolled over. Finally, he gave up, and let himself succumb to the darkness.

The man laid upon the ground in an unconscious heap between the orange mare and the bison. Both parties looked down at the man and then looked back at each other.

"O-Oops..." Exclaimed Applejack as the buffalo started to step towards them, their anger made known in their hoofsteps.

"More of these...these murderous creatures? Of what reason would you tag along with that ridiculous beast!" The chief pointed at the human with the tip of his forehoof. Graham could only look at this massive mammal with both fear and annoyance. How dare he tell him he's ridiculous!

"You know what? Shut your whore mouth, you piece of shit! I've been on this goddamn planet for nearly three whole weeks, and just about every single living creature and their fucking grandma has been seeing me as some kinda murderer! Can't somebody just look at me normally, instead of pointing me out as some sorta Jason Voorhees incarnation? And another thing, where the fuck do YOU get off with calling ME _RIDICULOUS!_ HOW. FUCKING. DARE YOU."

Chief Thunderhooves couldn't believe the mouth of this creature. He was a leader! Nopony had ever talked to him like this, let alone raise their voice. He was used to everypony bowing down to his mighty hoof, feeling unworthy to even say the name Thunderhooves, but this was completely different. In fact, he couldn't even fathom what just took place. All he could do was sit and listen. Finally, it was his turn to "talk", but in reality, he would only babble.

"I-I...uh..." He mumbled, confused. The rest of his herd looked toward him, waiting for a retort of sorts, before eventually coming to the conclusion that he had nothing to say. They slowly backed off, to let their leader and the strange creature to be left alone.

"Well? Aren't you gonna say anything? Or babble like you're two years old?" Graham felt his ego finally inflate beyond the size his head. The bison didn't know how to handle something like this, only because he was well respected. The giant shook his head and snorted.

"You! How dare you—" Was all he could say before his verbal opponent went on the attack again.

"Oh hell no, you're not starting this with 'How dare you talk to me like that', I'm sick and tired of every single fucking creature in Equestria's soil lookin' down at me, or calling me psychotic! I've had enough of it, you fucking hear me! I hope you do, because I am NOT having any more of it! I've been looked DOWN upon back on earth, and now here? BULLSHIT! NO. FUCKING. MORE. You will treat me with FUCKING respect, or so help me, I'm gonna do something you'll regret!"

"Like what, creature?" The bison stepped towards him, expecting it to back down. He soon realized that it wasn't about to do that, as this insane... thing stepped towards him. Both had their eyes locked in the struggle for dominance.

"First? I'm gonna knock you the fuck over, and rip your intestines outta you. Then I'm gonna strangle you with 'em! I don't even fucking stop there, I'll rip your still-beating heart outta your chest, and SHOW it to you AS. YOU. DIE." the anger and menace seemed to roll off his body in huge waves of intent.

"...That doesn't even seem possible..." The chief muttered quietly, as his opponent growled.

"You want to prove that wrong?" He hissed, the venom of his words stinging his ears. The Chief really didn't feel it was a good idea to provoke this creature further. The other creature had mentioned it killed a pony, and it was wounded. He had no idea of what a fully capable one of them could do. It may actually have been able to fulfill its threats...

"I grow tired of bickering. We will give you five minutes to leave, and if you do not do as we say, we will give chase." Thunderhooves waved his hoof dismissively, "Take your creature and go. I only ask that you avoid killing any of us, else there will be consequences."

"Yeah, that's what I thought!" Graham leered, "Take your fucking headdress, and GET LOST!"

The chieftain shook his head and gestured for the herd of bison to leave. The departed in a large cloud of dust and the rumbling of hooves that shook the ground. Twilight and Applejack checked the unconscious human over while Graham continued to taunt the bison from afar.

"What do ya think, Twi?" Applejack asked, "Can ya get 'im on his feet again?" She nudged the human's strange looking arm, wondering where the strange appendage had come from.

"I can try," Twilight responded, "But I can't say what his reaction will be when he wakes up. He may very well attack us. Don't you think we should wait until we get back to, at the very least, Appleloosa, before we wake him up?"

"Do it, Twi. Ah can't bear ta see 'im like this any more."

The unicron nodded, closing her eyes, preparing to rouse the human. Her horn lit up as she prepared the spell...


	15. A Soldier's Misfortune Part 2

**CHAPTER 15:**

The man felt a jolt run through his body, rousing him from his state of unconsciousness. He prevented his body from bolting upward, and pretended he was asleep.

"There, that should do it. I can do the spell alot easier now, since the last time I performed the healing spell." Twilight looked up at Graham as she was hugged by him.

"Thanks a lot Twi." Graham said sincerely. Twilight blushed a little and appreciatively nuzzled the human.

"Wait! He's movin'!" Applejack suddenly cried out. Graham and Twilight's gazes both flew over to the form of the newcomer. He was still laying unconscious.

"What? No he isn't. You're seeing things AJ." Graham said as he looked over at the slump on top of Applejack's back. He poked the body to make sure he was correct. Suddenly the body moved.

"Sweet mother of god, IS THAT A HUMAN FINGER?" The mouth of the body moved, and red eyes that could match Vinyl Scratch herself shot open.

"Holy mother of fuck, he's alive!" Graham yelped as he jumped back; the body falling flat on its face on the ground.

"Ha! See? Ah told y'all it was alive!" Applejack retorted as she looked at the figure before them.

"Did it twitch?" Spike asked after jumping off Gypsy's back. He poked it once more , only to jump twice as high as Graham did when the being completely lost it.

"NO! I'm completely sane! I'm not high on Acid! What the hell?" The new human mumbled to himself, while Graham just stared down at the flabbergasted human.

"U-Uh...are you alri-"

"I'M FINE! I'M COMPLETELY FINE, EVERYTHING'S PERFECT IN THE LAND OF BROMLEY!" The newly named 'Bromley' shouted, earning a wince from the others as the man screamed at them, slightly frothing at the mouth.

"OK! WE FUCKING GET IT, YOU'RE CONFUSED AS ALL HELL!" Graham yelled back. The two seemed to be competing to see who could be louder. Graham rubbed his temple, counting to ten in his head.

While that was going on, Bromley took notice of what was carrying him the entire time. He looked upon the cowgirl pony with every ounce of his focus. He took mental note of the blonde mane, the hat, and even her accent.

'_A Western horse. A talking western horse; really?' _He grumbled as he stood up. He looked at Graham, happy to see anything resembling a human.

"Oh thank god, another human! Where the fuck AM I? Am I high?"

Graham only rolled his eyes. "No, you're not high..." He simply explained as he pulled him up from the ground. Bromley sat there with a confused face.

"What do you mean 'I'm not high'? I'm in a canyon, I was almost KILLED by bison! We're surrounded by talking horses, for gods sake!"

"Um, we prefer 'Ponies'." Twilight interjected.

"Okay, fine, PONIES. Even still, PONIES. _TALKING _PONIES! _HOW _CAN THAT EVEN _BE!_" Graham raised his hand to motion a slap to the face to snap him back to reality, but was quickly grabbed by Bromley's metallic appendage.

"Don't even try..." He said coldly. Squeezing his hand quite easily, Graham's looked shocked for a second, before his face twisted in extreme pain as the bones within his hand cracked under the pressure. After Graham fell to his knees, Bromley let go, letting Graham hold his hand tenderly as he cursed to himself.

"Don't. You. EVER. Try to hit me again." the soldier threatened as he turned his back to him. He started walking, despite the others trying to stop him.

"W-Wait! Y'all can't just go! Y'all need to go back to—"

"I am not going to go anywhere until someone tells me what's going on."

Graham stood up, enraged by the new person's attempt to break his hand. He ran towards him.

"You slimy bastard!" He roared as he tried to attack his target with a punch to the back of his head, but it was quickly dodged and countered with a punch to the gut. The assaulter writhed in pain as he slid back, holding his stomach.

"Graham!" Twilight ran towards his side as he recuperated from the blow.

"I'm ok, love." he wheezed. "Just a bit winded..."

He turned towards the man, who stopped in his tracks, "**Du, du tier, werde ich rip ihrem darm aus eurem Munde gehen sie Schleimige kröte!"**

Bromley chuckled, "What's wrong, Nazi man? Can't take an American soldier on by yourself?"

Graham didn't waste a second before charging at Bromley, his eyes fixated upon his target, "I'll kill you for calling me a Nazi!"

Bromley didn't move, but dodged each and every punch that Graham threw, "I thought that Nazi's were trained to be tougher than this or was Hitler really scraping the bottom of the barrel when he was recruiting for his legion!"

"For the last time, I AM NOT A NAZI! I'M NOT A NAZI!" He screamed as his fist connected with the palm of Bromley's hand, "Oh crap..."

"Gotcha, you little—" He started, but suddenly let go and jerked to the side as a bolt of magic shot towards him.

"Don't you _DARE_ hurt him!" Twilight screamed as her horn lit up, preparing another blast of magic.

"You're gonna let a HORSE fight your battles for you, Nazi man?" He laughed as he started to walk away, before being stopped by Applejack getting in his way.

"Y'all 'r not runnin' away from this! Now calm yerself down and just come with us. We'll git this all straightened out, ya hear?" Applejack watched and soon started to smile as the man nodded.

"Obviously you're the only one who's sane around these parts. I'll come quietly then. I can only hope you can answer how I got here, and where I am?"

"Our Princess will explain everythin' once we git to Canterlot, now just foll'r me." She said as she started to walk off, motioning him to do the same with a nod of her head.

"You're not goin' anywhere! Not until you apologize to me for that 'Nazi' talk!" Graham ordered as he stepped forward. The man looked behind him and chuckled some more.

"Or what, Mr. Blitzkrieg? Are you gonna call your buddies and carpet bomb this place?"

"For the last fucking time..." He replied with a sneer. He grabbed spike, holding him like he would a flamethrower.

"H-Hey! Put me down!" The purple dragon squirmed as Graham's hand gripped his jaw. Using his spines on the top of his head as a crosshair, he pointed straight at the man.

"Do it..." He ordered as the man snickered.

"Or else what? you gonna make the lizard hurl his lunch? Please."

"Or else, you'll have to get your face about a hundred pounds of aloe vera! This ain't a gecko, you dolt! It's a dragon!"

The man only stood in his spot, before bursting out laughing. "A dragon? You really expect me to believe that's a—" His words were cut short by a stream of green flames erupting from Spike's mouth, causing him to leap to the side, cursing loudly.

"Ok! Ok! I'm sorry! Just drop the Salamander!" He stammered as he corrected his posture. As soon as Graham let go of Spike, Bromley rushed towards him, and knocked him clear off his feet. He put his boot right on his chest and kneeled over.

"This American boot just kicked your Nazi ass right back to Germany."

Graham coughed as the wind was knocked out of him; the pain of Bromley's weight was too much. Suddenly he felt relief as the boot was lifted from his chest.

"Now then, are you going to stop?" Bromley asked as he watched him get up.

"As long as you stop calling me a Nazi."

"Very well then. What should I call you?"

Graham dusted himself off as he got up, and looked towards him, "Well Bromley, you can call me by my name. And that's Graham, if you don't mind."

The man raised an eyebrow at the other as he finished his quick dusting, "A German with a British first name? That's weird."

"It isn't weird, I'm not fully German, but it's a huge part. I'm part British, German, and Irish."

"The ego certainly came from the combination. I should've known."

Graham snorted at that remark, "I don't have an ego! I just hate it when people call me egotistical! Not even five minutes..."

Bromley started to tune himself out from the conversation as he turned towards the mare he was speaking to before.

"Exactly who are you, that other hor- pony... and the... 'dragon'?" He questioned as the orange mare took a bow with her hat tilted.

"Name's Applejack, pleased t' meetcha. Them ov'r there is Twilight, 'n Spike. That dog is Graham's friend Gypsy.

He looked towards them, noticing the dog for the first time, "Woah, has that dog always been there?" He asked as the black lab wagged her tail from excitement to see someone new. She walked over and jumped up to see him closer and started licking his face.

"Gypsy, c'mere." Graham called. Gypsy yapped and ceased what she was doing to meet up with her master. After a brief silence, Applejack cleared her throat.

"Anyway, we better git goin' back to Appaloosa, we don' wanna miss the train.

"Train? Hold on, you have technology? You built things?" He was stopped from asking anything else by Graham's hand resting on his shoulder.

"You've never watched 'My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic' at home, did you?"

"I uh..." He trailed off, afraid to answer.

"Dude, you're talking to a fellow brony, it's okay." He patted his back, and smiled with assurance.

"Alright, so I've seen the show maybe once or twice..." He admitted.

"Lemme guess, your favorite is Applejack, isn't it?

Bromley coughed into his fist and looked off to the side. Although the others couldn't tell, Graham had to suppress a laugh so as to not further embarrass the rather aggressive newcomer.

"I knew it. Anyways, why don't we just get to the train, and meet up with the others. We got other humans here too, you know."

Bromley nodded as they started walking back towards the old town of Appaloosa. As they were walking towards the town, Graham spoke again.

"One more thing. We might wanna go check on that old colt you snapped the neck of. Might wanna get that mess cleared up."


End file.
